


Living up to the Legacy

by Jellybean96



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Academy!AU, Brother-Sister Relationships, Canon Divergence, F/M, Family, Fluff, Friendship, Future Fic, Gen, Grant Ward Redemption, Kid Fic, not Skyeward-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-16
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2019-01-18 03:25:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 38,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12379917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jellybean96/pseuds/Jellybean96
Summary: The Ward Twins are about to embark on the greatest adventure of their young lives, following in their parents' footsteps and becoming two of the best agents SHIELD has seen in their many years.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey babes! Got a new story for ya! I'm really, really excited about this one, it's gonna be really good.
> 
> This one spawned from the two beautiful OC's that me and my friend created on Tumblr, the children of Skyeward, Adian and Ava, and the idea of them being twins and following in their parents footsteps at SHIELD.
> 
> This story's pretty much all written, I just have to go through and make sure everything is exactly how I want it to be. But I had this first chapter done and really wanted to post it for you guys.
> 
> Also, it isn't going to be a Skyeward-centric story, though they will appear throughout it, as it focuses mainly on Adian and Ava. I hope you love them as much as I do. :)
> 
> Enjoy!

"Grant," Skye calls out when she sees her husband approaching her in one of the many long hallways of the Operations building of SHIELD Academy, sliding her cell phone back into her pocket. "Where are the kids?" she asks him when she reaches him, seeing him alone with just their dog.

"I thought they were with you," he says, his brows furrowing together, one hand reaching down as a signal for the German Sheppard next to him to stop walking.

"They were," she tells him. "But they got bored while I was lecturing and said they wanted to hang out with you and Max so I told them to come find you."

"You let them walk around by themselves?" he asks, his brows rising. "They're only five, Skye."

She rolls her eyes. "Yes, I know that, Grant, I'm the one who carried them inside me and then gave birth to them. And it's not like they were in any real danger while walking round. They've been here so many times and everyone around here knows them."

"Okay, so maybe you're right on that front. But they never made it to the class I was teaching. So I have absolutely no idea where they are."

Skye sighs. "Neither do I." She closes her eyes and rubs a hand over her forehead in frustration and concern for her children. "Why on earth did we have to have two kids at the same time?" she asks. "It just causes so much more stress than I'd like."

"It's not like we had much control over it, babe," Grant tells his wife with a small smile. "They just to come at the same time. And it makes all the stress and concern worth it when they smile at us or call us 'mommy' and 'daddy' and say they love us," he counters her earlier statement.

Skye lets a smile cross over her lips at the thought of the last five years with her kids and all the happier moments spent with them. "Yeah, that is a pretty great feeling." She takes a deep breath. "Well, we should probably find them and take them home since it's getting close to dinner time. Unfortunately for us, as much as the other agents and cadets love having them around all the time whenever we're here, I really don't think they'd appreciate us just up and leaving them here."

Grant chuckles. "Yeah, you're probably right. Although, you have to admit that it'd be good for the cadets' training, having to try and keep their cool in a high-stress situation."

Skye laughs with him at the thought of Operations Cadets losing their minds trying to take care of two five year olds and having absolutely no idea what they're doing. "Mm. Yes. That would definitely put them to the test. But we should probably go and find them now, right?"

Grant nods. "That would probably be the responsible parent thing to do."

Skye sighs and begins making her way down the hall. "I guess if we really have to be responsible parents and not abandon our children."

Grant follows behind her, Max dutifully at his side, an amused smile on the man's lips as he eventually falls into step right beside her. His hand subconsciously finds her own, their fingers lacing together as they walk down the hall in search of their kids.

"Where should we look first?" he asks her after a quiet minute.

"I honestly think that we should just walk around the building and hope we find them somewhere. They really could have ended up just about anywhere."

Grant nods his head in agreement. "Very true. Let's just hope they didn't end up anywhere too crazy."

"They're probably fine wherever they are," she assures him. "Like I said before, everyone here knows our kids and won't let them get into any harm. Though, it makes you wonder why no one has called us about seeing the kids just wandering the halls."

Skye's jerked to a stop, her husband's hand tugging on hers when something catches Grant's attention out the corner of his eye and he comes to an abrupt stop.

"Skye? I found the kids," he calls out to her, standing in the doorway to one of the many gyms, his eyes staring straight ahead. "You better come over here and see this."

Skye takes a few steps and joins her husband in the open doorway, a small laugh escaping her at the sight before her.

"Good job, Adian," one of the Operations cadets says to the small brunette boy standing barefoot on the dark blue training mat in the center of the room. "You remembered to do it exactly how I showed you."

"What about me, Charlie?" the little brunette girl standing barefoot on the mat speaks up, putting her hands on her hips in a way that reminds Grant so much of his wife when she gets irritated with anyone.

The young cadet smiles down at the girl. "You did a very good job too, Ava."

Ava beams. "Thanks. Was I just like my mommy?"

Charlie laughs quietly and nods his head. "You've certainly got her spunk, that's for sure. Are you going to be an agent like your mom when you grow up?"

Ava nods. "Yeah!"

"Me too!" Adian exclaims, a wide smile on his face. "I wanna be like daddy!"

Grant and Skye stand in the doorway for a few more minutes, Skye leaning into her husband's side, watching as their children do different flips on the mat, and kicks and hits aimed at the lowered training dummies set up. The two kids have wide smiles on their faces as they move about the mat, occasionally stopping for validation from the blonde man in the room.

"Adian Leo and Ava Rose," Skye finally speaks up after a little while, getting her children's attention.

Both kids look over and their smiles immediately widen when they see their parents. "Mommy! Daddy!"

They instantly run toward their parents, each one attaching themselves to a parent, hugging tightly to their legs.

Grant and Skye both laugh at their kids' excitement, leaning down to lift each kid off the floor and into their arms. Adian and Ava wrap their arms around the necks of the parent holding them and leaning into them comfortably with tiny smiles on their faces.

"Thank you for looking after them, Charlie," Grant says to the young blonde. "Even though they should have come straight to me instead of finding their way here," he says, tickling the stomach of the little girl in his arms, making her giggle.

Charlie smiles at the sound and shrugs. "It was really no problem, Agent Ward. They're fun kids. It was a nice way to relax and de-stress before starting my final year."

"Charlie showed us how to fight like you and mommy," Ava states from her dad's arms, sitting up a little taller.

"We saw," Skye says. "But you were supposed to go find your dad like you told me you would do. Not come to the gym."

"Sorry, mommy," Adian says from his mom's arms. "We wanted to be like you and daddy and learn how to fight the bad guys."

Ava nods her head in agreement with her brother. "Yeah. We wanna be Agents of SHIELD too."

"Finish your schooling first," Grant tells his children. "Then when you're old enough, if you still want to, you can join the Academy."

Adian and Ava look at each other with the widest grins on their tiny faces, a silent conversation passing between the two young children, like they've done many, many times before.

* * *

***13 years later***

"Ava! Hurry up!" Adian pounds on the bathroom door with his fist, growing more irritated at his sister's ability to take seemingly forever in the bathroom getting ready for just about anything. "Come on! Hurry up! You're taking forever!" he yells again after getting no response.

"There's more than one bathroom, Adian!" Ava shouts back through the closed door.

"Yeah, well all my stuff's in this one. And you know that."

A few seconds pass in silence before the door swings open to reveal a young brunette girl standing on the other side. She's dressed in a pair of dark skinny jeans, a t-shirt of one of her favorite bands, and a gray zip up hoodie over top. A pair of Converse are on her feet and her hair is pulled back into a messy bun on top of her head.

"You're such a girl," she says to her brother as she flips the bathroom light off.

Adian rolls his eyes at her comment. "And you're in my way. I need to get ready to go."

Ava steps past him and begins making her way down the hall toward the stairs. "Take too long and I won't save you any breakfast," she calls over her shoulder.

"Wouldn't expect you to," Adian calls back, stepping inside the bathroom and closing the door behind him as he turns the light back on.

Ava continues her way down the hall, descending the stairs and then turning into the kitchen, finding her parents already inside, moving about the room fluidly, as if they're doing a dance with one another while making breakfast for the family.

She leans against the doorway and watches the scene for a moment with a happy smile on her face, witnessing the sweet moments between the pair, all the small touches and quick kisses as they move.

It's honestly amazing to her that her parents are still so in love after having been married for what seems like forever in her eyes, when most of her friends' parents are either divorced or were never even together to start. She loves getting to watch them like this, being happy and in love without a single care in the world; it shows her what she wants in her own future relationship. Someone who loves her completely and will do anything for her.

"Good morning, sweetheart."

Ava's pulled from her thoughts to see her parents looking at her with smiles on both their faces. Her dad is standing in front of the stove top while her mom is standing by the fridge with two mugs, waiting for the coffee machine to be done brewing. She notices the mugs are the ones that she and her brother made them for Christmas when they were younger, the hardened clay being rough and misshapen.

"Morning," she says back to her parents, moving toward the table and sitting down. "Hi Captain," she greets the German Sheppard lying in his bed in the far corner of the room. "How'd you guys sleep?" she asks her parents.

"Pretty good," her mom answers. "You?"

Ava shrugs. "As well as I usually do. What's for breakfast?"

"You and your brothers' favorite," Skye tells her.

Ava grins and sits up taller. "Chocolate chip pancakes?"

Grant smiles and nods. "But of course. Today's a special day so it requires a special breakfast. We've also got bacon, scrambled eggs, hash browns, and some freshly squeezed orange juice for you and your brother to enjoy."

"What on earth are we gonna do at the Academy every day for four years without you, dad?" Ava sighs and grabs a couple spoonfuls of eggs to put on the plate in front of her.

"You love the food at the Academy," Skye says to her daughter, pouring the freshly brewed coffee into the two mugs. "You and your brother used to try and smuggle some of it out whenever we had to leave after spending all day there."

"Yeah, I know." She reaches forward to grab at some pancakes with her fork. "But it's nowhere near as good as the food dad makes. He just has a certain…gift."

"Who has a gift?"

Ava turns her head to see her brother entering the room and sitting down next to her, wearing a simple pair of blue jeans and dark t-shirt, much like their dad wears on an everyday basis.

"Dad at the stove," she tells her twin, grabbing the bottle of syrup for her pancakes.

Adian nods. "Ah, yeah. She's right," he agrees, grabbing a couple of strips of bacon and dropping them onto his plate before reaching for the hash browns. "Nobody makes better food than you do, dad. It's as simple as that." He tosses a strip of bacon to Captain when his parents' backs are turned.

Ava nods in agreement with her brother, her mouth full of warm, fluffy pancakes. "Mm-hmm."

"Well if my kids love my food then I'm definitely not one to complain," Grant says with a quiet chuckle, turning back to the stove to flip the last of the pancakes.

Adian and Ava finish filling their plates and begin eating their breakfast, taking turns to toss bits of their food to Captain when their parents aren't looking, a game they started when they were younger with their late dog Max.

Skye takes a deep breath as she turns and focuses her attention on her two children. "Don't take too long eating, okay? We've got a busy day ahead of us. As soon as you're done, go make sure you've packed up everything you'll need and get it in the back of the car."

"I'm pretty much all packed up," Ava states after swallowing some orange juice. "I think I just have one or two more things to take care of and then I'll be completely ready."

Skye nods. "Good. Adian?" She looks over at her son. "Are you all packed and ready to go?"

Adian shrugs. "Kind of."

Skye raises an eyebrow. "Kind of? What exactly do you mean by that?"

Ava smirks and looks over at him. "You totally haven't even packed anything yet, have you?"

"Yes, I have."

Ava snorts. "Like what? Your hair care products?"

"Hey. It takes a lot of work for my hair to look this good." He runs a hand gently over the top of his dark brown, almost black, hair that's been styled just right for the teen.

Ava laughs and shakes her head. "I still can't believe how much you care about your hair. I don't even care that much and I'm the girl."

"You don't care about anything," Adian retorts.

"Not true. I care about many things."

Adian leans back in his seat and crosses his arms over his chest. "Really? Name one."

"I don't have to listen to you."

"See, you don't care. I was so right."

Ava's eyes narrow. "Shut up before I punch you."

"I'd like to see you try."

"You know, I'm really not going to miss all the bickering between them when they leave," Skye says quietly to her husband, leaning back against the counter with her coffee, watching her teenage twins bicker with one another. The bickering between the two of them nothing new for the teens.

Grant shakes his head. "Definitely not. It is going to be weird having it so quiet around here all the time, though."

"You know what one good thing about having an empty house now is, though?"

"What?"

Skye gives him a sly smile over the rim of her cup. "No interruptions."

Grant's breath catches in his throat at the insinuation from his wife and he looks down at her with a shake of his head. "You wicked, wicked woman."

Skye just laughs at the look on his face, setting her cup down and turning fully to face him. "I'm just stating the facts, babe." She wraps her arms up around his neck, rising up a little onto her toes and ghosting her lips over his. "I've got so many ideas of what we can do after we get home from dropping the kids off."

Grants smiles, his eyes slowly closing. "Mm. I'm all ears."

Skye lets out a quiet giggle as Grant presses a lingering kiss right below her jaw line. She lets one hand fall to his upper arm while the other cradles the back of his head, threading her fingers through his hair as her husband kisses his way down her neck.

"Hey, step apart over there you two," Ava calls out to her parents, her and Adian finally taking notice of them.

"Yeah," Adian says. "Dad, remove your hands and back away from mom right now."

"You're parents with children," Ava says, her brows furrowed and her nose turned up. "That's highly inappropriate for the two for you to be doing. I don't even want to think about what you two would have done if Adian and I weren't in the room."

Skye turns her head and looks at her daughter with a smirk. "Oh believe me, Ava, it's a very good thing that you and your brother are in the room right now. I've never been able to keep my hands off your father and that is never going to change."

Adian and Ava both groan, their faces twisting up further in disgust.

"You two are worse than teenagers sometimes," Ava tells them.

Skye looks back at her husband with a sneaking smile before rising back onto her toes and pulling him down into a long kiss, one of her hands firmly cupping the back of his neck. Grant's hands land on her hips, gripping tightly and holding her body close to his own, letting out a small moan from the back of his throat at the contact.

"Oh, gross!"

"Seriously? What's wrong with you two?"

"I've lost my appetite."

"I think I'm gonna hurl."

Skye pulls away from Grant with a quiet laugh, listening to the two pairs of feet darting across the hardwood flooring. "Works every time."

"Yes it does. Except for the fact that they left their dirty dishes on the table."

Skye sighs and turns toward the open doorway. "Kids! Get your butts back down here!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Twins arrive at the Academy to get settled in and ready for the upcoming year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter of this story for you. I don't think I can tell you enough how excited I am for you all to see where this story goes. It's gonna be good. :)
> 
> Enjoy!

"Um, dad? This isn't the way to the Academy," Ava speaks up from the middle row of the SUV, her eyes leaving the screen of her laptop and flitting over to look out the window at the scenery that passes by.

"We know," Skye says from the front passenger seat. She turns to look over her shoulder at her children. "Your dad and I have to run to a quick meeting at the Triskellion before we drop you two at school. It shouldn't take too long, it's just a quick update about one of our current ops that apparently can't wait until later, and then we will take you straight to the Academy to get checked in."

"Do we have to stay in the car when we get to the Triskellion?" Adian asks.

"Of course not," Grant tells him. "You know your way around well enough so I trust you won't get lost or go anywhere you aren't supposed to."

"That's because we pretty much grew up there and at the Academy," Ava reminds him. "And now we're going to be cadets there, so that's pretty weird."

"But also really cool," Adian says with a small smile. "We're finally going to the Academy, as actual students, not just little kids hanging around with our parents. Not that we didn't like doing that," he says quickly, eyes darting back and forth between his parents. "It's just…now we're going there on our own, you know?"

"It's fine, sweetie," Skye says to her son. "We understand. There's no need to try and protect our feelings."

The car returns to a comfortable silence between the family of four as Grant continues driving in the direction of the Triskellion. Ava's attention focuses on the laptop screen in front of her as she messes around with a few different coding programs, and Adian focuses back on the novel he started just a few days before, eager to get to the end of it.

"We're here," Grant announces a few minutes later as he pulls up to the front gate at the Triskellion.

"Good morning, Agent Ward, Agent Ward," the security agent says with a small smile to Grant and Skye once he sees them after Grant rolls his window down.

"Good morning, Eddie," Grant says back, handing his and Skye's SHIELD ID badges over to the red-headed man. "How's the family?"

"Pretty good," Eddie responds with a smile, holding both badges up to the scanner inside the security booth. A light quickly flashes on a pole just outside the driver's side of the car, capturing the two adults' retinal scans. "Mary's not feeling too well, though. Food poisoning. I feel bad that I can't do anything about it except for being as supportive as possible while she gets better."

Grant nods. "I know very well how that goes. Just be glad that she doesn't also have earthquake powers to use on you whenever she's upset about being sick."

Skye hits her husband on the arm and narrows her eyes at him. "That was one time, on accident, and I apologized to you so many times for it after it happened."

Grant smiles over at her. "I know. But I still love teasing you about it. And of course you nearly brought the whole building down when you were in labor."

"You push two human beings out of your body in quick succession and then we'll talk."

Grant laughs quietly and looks back to Eddie. "We all good to go here?"

Eddie nods and hands the ID's back. "Yes, sir. And I'm definitely grateful Mary doesn't have any powers at a time like this."

"Hi, Eddie," Ava speaks up from the back, rolling down her window to get a better look at the familiar man standing outside the car.

Eddie steps over to the open window and smiles at the twins. "Adian, Ava, how are you guys?"

"Pretty good," Ava replies. "We're starting at the Academy today."

"Well that's exciting. I wish you both the best of luck, I know you're gonna be great. Possibly even greater than your parents."

"Whoa, slow your roll there, Eddie," Skye says with a small laugh. "Don't go putting ridiculous fantasies into their heads," she teases. "It was great to see you again, but we've got a really important meeting to get to. Would you mind getting the gate for us?"

"Oh, right, of course. Have a good day, you guys."

"Thank you."

Eddie steps back inside the booth and hits a few buttons, the entrance gate immediately swinging open, allowing Grant to drive their car through it and toward the parking garage.

As they pull into the parking garage, Adian and Ava pack their belongings away so that they're ready to go inside the building when the car stops.

Once the car is parked, the family of four climbs out of the vehicle and begins making their way toward the elevator bank, the twins walking a few steps ahead of their parents.

"Alright," Grant speaks up, getting his children's attention, "your mom and I will be up in the conference room on the fifth floor. We'll meet you in the lobby once we're done. Do not wander too far, we shouldn't be very long. Understood?"

Adian and Ava both nod. "Yes, dad."

"Good. Behave." He points a finger at the both of them before he and Skye turn around, his hand landing comfortably on her lower back, and make their way to the elevators just off to the side of the parking garage. They don't have to wait too long for the elevator and then they're off to their meeting.

"I'm gonna go down to the gym," Adian tells his sister once their parents are gone. "You wanna come with? Maybe spar a little bit before we have to go?"

Ava shakes her head. "No thanks, I think I'm gonna wander around a bit. Maybe see if Rachel's in today. She always lets me check out what she's working on and help out a little."

"Alright. See ya."

"Yeah."

Adian turns and makes his way toward the door leading to the stairs to go up one level to the gym, leaving his sister standing alone in the parking garage.

Ava lets out a breath and then makes her way over to the elevators, hitting the button to go up and then patiently waiting for it to arrive, her mind wandering as she waits.

Once the car arrives, she steps inside and hits the 'L' button to take her up to the lobby, and then leans back against the wall as the doors slide closed. She rests her head against the wall behind her, her eyes closing as she rides up to the main floor of the Triskellion.

A few seconds later, the car comes to a stop and Ava opens her eyes, standing up straight. The elevator doors slide open and she steps out onto the glossy lobby floor, a small smile gracing her lips at the familiar sights and sounds immediately hitting her from all directions.

She stands in her spot for a moment, letting her eyes roam the space around her, deciding where exactly she wants to go while she waits for her parents to be done with their meeting.

"Auntie Jemma!" she exclaims when she recognizes the older woman walking across the lobby floor, talking with another agent next to her.

The woman in question turns her head and smiles when she sees Ava walking quickly toward her. "Ava, hello, sweetheart." She opens her arms up to the young girl and hugs her tightly. "How are you?"

"Good. Adian and I are starting at the Academy today," she tells her pseudo-aunt as she pulls out of the hug.

"Oh, that's right. Are you excited?"

Ava nods. "Yeah. But also kind of nervous."

"Why's that?"

Ava shrugs. "I don't know. I mean, I've been wanting to go to the Academy since as long as I can remember, I'm just a little nervous about actually going there. What if I screw up somehow? What if I'm not actually as good with computers as I think I am and I wash out?"

Jemma frowns. "Ava, that's complete nonsense. You're very talented with computers. And you know you don't have to study at Communications unless it's really what you want to do."

"It is," Ava insists. "I mean, I like sparing sometimes, but I'm way more comfortable sitting behind a computer."

Jemma smiles softly. "Alright. Then don't worry too much about everything and just focus on doing your best and enjoying yourself while you're there."

"I know. But I'm also worried about Adian going into Operations. I know he's really good and everything, but I'm still worried that something's going to happen and he'll freak out like he used to do when we were younger."

"I'm sure he'll be alright," Jemma says. "He's come a long way from back then. But you're a great sister for worrying about him."

"Thanks."

"Of course, dear, anytime." Jemma takes a deep breath. "Alright, I have to get going now, because we're right in the middle of something very important, but promise you'll call me once you're all settled in to let me know how things are going."

Ava smiles and nods. "Promise."

Jemma smiles. "Excellent." She pulls the young girl into one last hug, kissing the top of her head. "I love you, Ava Rose."

Ava smiles against her aunt's hold. "I love you too, Auntie Jemma."

Jemma pulls back from the hug and gives her niece one last smile before turning back to the other agent, starting up their conversation once more as they continue walking across the floor.

"Ava. Is that you?"

Turning around, Ava grins when she sees the tall blonde walking toward her. "Charlie." She accepts his hug, holding onto him tightly for a quick moment before letting go and taking a small step back.

"Hey, kiddo," he says with a smile. "What are you doing here?"

"Mom and dad had a meeting," she tells him.

He nods. "Ah, yeah. I know how those can be. You're starting at the Academy today, right?"

Ava smiles and nods. "Yeah. Adian and I are so excited."

"I'm sure you are. You two have been wanting this for a long time. Pretty much as long as I've known you."

"And now it's finally here."

"Yes it is. Do you think you can handle it?" he asks her.

"It's just Communications," she reminds the older man. "It's not as rigorous as Operations or Sci-Tech."

"It's pretty rigorous in its own right," he informs her. "It's really gonna test you and push you to your limits."

Ava nods. "Yeah, I know. I think I'll be okay, though. I've been preparing for this for a long time. I'm so ready to do this. I'm ready to become an agent."

"Well don't get too ahead of yourself, okay? Don't try to rush through things. Just take your time and savor every moment of it."

"I will definitely try and do that, but I make no promises."

"Well as long as you try."

"I promise I'll try."

"Try and do what?" Skye asks as she and Grant approach the two, their hands entwined as per usual.

"Savor every moment I'm at the Academy," Ava explains to her parents.

Skye nods. "Ah." She turns and smiles at the other agent. "Charlie, how are you?"

"Doing alright. Where's Adian?" the agent asks.

"In the gym," Ava answers.

Charlie chuckles. "Of course he is." He takes a deep breath. "I should probably get going, but good luck to both you and Adian," he says to the young brunette. "I know you guys are going to be great."

Ava smiles. "Thanks, Charlie."

"No problem."

"Agents," he says with a small nod to Grant and Skye before turning around and making his way into another part of the building.

"Should we go get your brother so we can go?" Skye asks her daughter after a quick, quiet moment.

Ava nods and smiles. "Yes, please. I am so ready to go to the Academy."

.

.

.

"Here we are," Grant says to his family as he pulls the car through the front gates of the Academy, making his way toward one of the parking spaces in front of the main building.

"You know, any other kid coming here would be all surprised and look up at this place with complete wonder and amazement," Skye comments. "But not our kids," she says to Grant, glancing at Adian and Ava in the backseat, neither of them paying much attention the large building in front of them. "We just had to bring them with us all the time whenever we came here for something."

"We were trying to be good parents and stay involved in our children's lives," he replies.

"Key word being 'trying'. I'm still convinced our parenting skills are going to backfire on us one of these days."

"And we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

"If it'll make you guys feel any better, we can pretend to be amazed when we get out of the car," Ava suggests.

Skye smiles appreciatively. "That's sweet of you to offer, Ava, but it's alright. We're kind of glad you two are so familiar with this place. It means we're going to worry less about leaving you here."

"But you're still going to worry like crazy," Adian says. "We know you, mom."

Skye sighs. "Yeah, you're right. I'm still going to worry. But can you really blame me? You're my only children."

"Well that's on you and dad, not us," Ava tells her. "You easily could have had more kids but chose not to."

Skye narrows her eyes a little at her daughter. "Get out of the car and grab your stuff. We need to get you both checked in and then settled into your dorms before orientation starts."

Everyone piles out of the car and goes around to the trunk, Adian and Ava pulling their respective suitcases out and swinging their backpacks up onto their backs.

Skye lets out a deep sigh as she watches her children gather their things together. "Oh man, I can't believe you two are already going off to the Academy. I swear it was just yesterday I was changing your diapers and nursing you back to sleep."

Adian groans in annoyance, shrugging his backpack up a little higher on his shoulder. "Mom, seriously? I love you, but can you please stop with all the nostalgia right now? It's not like you and dad aren't going to see us, you're here all the time as it is."

Skye nods. "True. But it won't be the same. You two used to hang around with your dad and I all the time and go to the different classes we taught whenever we came here. And you were very rarely out of our sights. Now you're going off on your own."

"We promise we'll still see you guys from time to time," Ava speaks up, standing next to her brother with her own bags. "It just won't be all the time because we'll actually have classes and training pretty much every day. Can we check out my dorm first?"

"What if I wanted to see mine first?" Adian asks.

"Yours is on the complete opposite side of campus," she reminds him. "Mine's closer."

"We'll get to both dorms, don't worry," Grant tells his children. "But Ava's right, her dorm is closer, so we'll go there first, and then we'll go to yours, Adian."

Adian sighs. "Fine. Can I leave my stuff in the car, then? So I don't have to drag it all the way with us."

Grant nods. "Yeah, sure."

"Great. Thanks." He tosses his belongings back into the trunk of the SUV and then shuts the door, turning back to face his family. "Alright, we can go now."

"Then let's go," Ava says. "I have to get my keys and access badge first at the main office, though. That means we need to go this way," she tells them, already walking in the direction of the main office for all three academies.

"Might as well pick up mine too while we're here," Adian speaks up, following after his sister. "That way we don't have to come back after dropping of Ava."

"Sounds like a plan," Grant says with a small nod.

Reaching out once they get to the main office, Grant pulls on the door handle and holds the door open for his family, allowing them to step inside the room.

"Hi," Ava says with a small smile to the cadet sitting behind the front desk. "I'm here to pick up my room key and access badge. I'm a new cadet with Communications."

"Name?"

"Ava Rose Ward."

"Any relation to Agents Grant and Skye Ward?" the cadet asks jokingly, digging through the pile of keys and access badges in front of him.

Ava smirks. "Yeah, they're my parents."

The cadets' head shoots up with wide eyes, finally noticing Grant and Skye standing behind their children, amused smiles on their faces. "Oh my goodness," he breathes out. "I, um, I didn't…wow."

Skye laughs quietly. "Yeah, that's about how it usually goes."

"Can I have my keys now?" Ava asks the cadet.

He shakes his head to clear his throat. "Right, of course." He hands a bronze key over to her, followed by a laminated card with a barcode on it. "The card will get you into your dorm building, as well as any of the other facilities on campus, minus the other dorms. The key gets you into your actual room. Keep them on your person at all times and do not lose them."

Ava nods as she pockets both items. "Yeah, I kinda know how these work already."

"Of course you do, obviously."

"Can I pick up my keys as well?" Adian asks. "Adian Leo Ward, Operations cadet."

The other boy nods. "Sure, one moment." He digs through the pile again and pulls out another set of keys, handing them over to Adian. "I assume you know how they work as well?"

Adian nods, sliding the keys into his pockets. "Yep."

"Great. Welcome to SHIELD Academy."

"Thank you, Cadet," Grant says with a small nod.

"You're welcome, Agent Ward," the cadet says back.

The small family all turns around and makes their way back out of the office and into the cool fall breeze, now headed in the direction of the Communications dorm hall.

"I'm so excited to see my dorm," Ava speaks up after a moment. "I really hope my roommate isn't a total buzzkill. I mean, I know we're supposed to be training to be agents and everything while we're here, but we should still have a little fun."

"And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that," Skye tells her daughter.

"Just be thankful the Academy isn't as strict as it was when I went here," Grant speaks up.

"You didn't go to Communications, though," Ava reminds him.

Grant nods. "True. But all three areas were still pretty strict. The Sci-Tech kids knew how to have fun, though. We went there once for a mission, when we were on your Papa Phil's mobile team, and your Aunt Jemma and Uncle Fitz showed us to this underground club all the cadets put together over the years. It was actually pretty cool."

"Well I'm definitely looking to have fun while I'm here," Ava tells her family. "But don't worry, mom and dad, I'll make sure to focus on my studies as well. I'm not a complete moron. Not like Adian."

"Hey!"

Ava snickers. "Oh, relax, Adian. It was just a joke. I don't think you're a complete moron."

Adian nods once. "Thank you."

"Only slightly. When you're around girls that aren't family."

"Seriously?" he shrieks.

She nods. "Yes, seriously. But don't worry. They teach you how to pick up women here. So pay very, very close attention."

Adian narrows his eyes at his sister.

"Ava, please quit teasing your brother," Skye speaks up.

"It's not my fault he has no game with the ladies," Ava tries to defend her comments.

"No. It's dad's fault," Adian accuses.

Grant's brows rise as he pulls open the front door of the Communications dorms after Ava swipes her key card. "What? How on earth is this my fault?"

"Because you didn't think to leave any of your skills to Adian after you landed mom," Ava states, stepping through the door with the rest of her family behind her.

"Whoa. He did nothing of the thing," Skye defends. "He did not 'land me' as you so eloquently put it, Ava Rose. I made him work hard to win over my affections."

Grant chuckles. "Yes, because batting your eyelashes and flashing your cleavage at me every chance you got was clearly you making me work hard to win you over."

"Well it definitely got you flustered, and that was my real goal all along."

"Can you two seriously knock it off with all of that for five minutes?" Ava asks, watching her parents kiss each other in the middle of the hallway. "It's really nauseating, and I'd really rather not puke in the hallway of my dorm on the first day. Do you know how embarrassing that would be?"

"You'd stand out, though," Adian responds casually with a small shrug. "You like to stand out."

Ava rolls her eyes. "Puking in the middle of the hallway is not the ideal way a teenage girl likes to stand out. I think my room is just down here," she tells her family.

"What's the number?" Grant asks.

"111. Thank goodness I'm on the first floor," she says, letting out a relieved breath. "Less stairs I have to walk up and down every day."

"You're so lazy," Adian remarks. "No wonder you're only doing Communications."

"Shut up."

"Both of you knock it off," Skye speaks up.

"Sorry mom," they say together.

"Oh, here's my room," Ava says, stopping in front of a closed door.

Grabbing the key she'd been given just a few moments prior, she unlocks the door and slowly opens it.

"Hello?" she calls out as she peers her head inside. Not finding anyone inside, she pushes the door open the rest of the way and steps into the room. "No one's here," she tells her family. "But my roommate's obviously been here already because some of her stuff is set up." She gestures to a few boxes sitting on one of the beds in the room.

"Let's hope she doesn't mind having a messy roommate," Adian remarks as he steps inside the room.

"Oh, I'm not that bad," Ava responds. "I'm just not a crazy neat freak like you are."

"I'm not a neat freak, I'm organized."

"Neat freak." She tosses her backpack onto the empty bed and sets her suitcase on the ground just at the end of the bed. "Do you guys have my other boxes?" she asks her dad and brother.

"Yes we do," Grant says, stepping into the room and setting two cardboard boxes down on the bed. "Or, I do." He shoots his son a look.

Adian holds his hands up in defense. "Hey, whoa. Don't come after me. I'm your only son."

"We can always adopt. Who's to say you're not adopted?"

Ava lets out a loud laugh. "Oh, please. There's picture proof that we're your kids. And even if there wasn't, from the stories that Aunt Bobbi likes to tell, despite our pleading for her not to, it's a wonder you two don't have more kids than just us."

"Why would we need more when we've got one of each?" Skye responds. "And it only took us one time to get both. Two babies for the price of one. I'd say that's pretty good on our part."

"No, I promise you I'm okay. Everything's fine. You really don't need to stay in town any longer."

The family of four turns toward the bedroom door to see a tall blonde girl stepping through, a cell phone pressed to her ear and a ring of keys in her other hand.

"Hey, I gotta go," the girl says into her phone. "Yeah, I'll talk to you later. I love you, bye." She pulls the phone down and ends the call, looking directly at the Ward's. "Hi, you must be my roommate. I'm Lacey."

Ava smiles at the girl in front of her. "I'm Ava." She gestures to the others. "These are my parents and my twin brother Adian."

"Hi," Lacey says with a small smile and wave to the other three Ward's. "It's nice to meet you guys."

"It's great to meet you too, Lacey," Skye says. "Did your parents drop you off?"

Lacey shakes her head. "No, they didn't. They died when I was five, I've been living with my aunt ever since."

Skye frowns at the thought of the young girl growing up without her parents, having gone through the same thing herself. "Oh, I'm so sorry."

Lacey waves her off. "It's fine. I'm pretty much over it. Doesn't really bother me too much anymore. I know they'd be proud of me, though, for getting into SHIELD. They always wanted me to do something meaningful with my life, and I feel like being here at SHIELD is how I can do that."

"Well I'm just here for all the free food," Ava remarks.

Everyone stares at her.

"I'm kidding," she tells them. "Geez, tough room. Obviously I'm here to become an Agent. It's all I've been dreaming about since the first time I walked through those doors. Or, the first time I remember walking through those doors."

Lacey furrows her brows and tilts her head. "Wait, you've been here before today?"

"Uh, yeah. I kind of…grew up here, in a sense."

"You did?"

Ava nods. "Yeah. My parents are sort of…agents."

Lacey's eyes flit over to Grant and Skye, taking them in for a moment before her eyes go wide. "Wait, you're Grant and Skye Ward. Oh my goodness, I can't believe I didn't recognize you. I love you guys. You're amazing agents."

Grant and Skye both smile. "Thank you, Lacey," Skye says. "That's very sweet of you to say."

"Can we go to my dorm now? Please?" Adian asks his parents. "Ava will be fine unpacking on her own."

Grant looks at his daughter. "Are you going to be fine if we leave now, Ava-loo?" he asks her, using her nickname from childhood.

Ava smiles softly. "I'm gonna be fine, dad."

"Okay. We'll see you later. Can we get a hug before we leave, or would that be asking too much?" Grant asks, a small smile on his face.

"Of course you can have a hug." She steps forward into his awaiting arms, hugging him tightly and breathing in deeply at the comforting feeling. "I love you, daddy," she whispers against his chest.

Grant smiles and drops a kiss to the top of her head. "I love you too, Ava Rose. So much."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? What did you think? Let me know in a review below. I'd love to hear your thoughts
> 
> And there we go. You've met one of the twins' roommates. You'll meet the other in the next chapter.
> 
> Until next time,  
> Jellybean96 out!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not everyone is happy that Adian and Ava are at the Academy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for ya! This one introduces a couple of new characters for ya and also brings back a familiar face.
> 
> Enjoy!

Placing the last of her framed family photos on one of the wooden shelves pre-nailed into the wall, Ava takes a small step back and rests her hands on her hips, letting out a content sigh as she looks around her side of the dorm room. All of her belongings are unpacked and put away right where she wants them to be, making her new room feel more like home.

"So, are you ready for Orientation?" Ava asks her roommate, turning around and leaning back against her desk, watching as the other girl finishes unpacking her own belongings.

"I think so," Lacey responds, setting out the last of her things.

Ava looks at her roommate with furrowed brows. "You think so?"

Lacey nods. "Yeah." She turns around. "I'm just a little worried I won't be able to handle Communications and I'll completely freak out somehow."

Ava waves off her concern. "Oh, you'll be fine. Communications is not nearly as tough as Operations or Sci-Tech. My Auntie Jemma said that she had to have at least one PhD before she was even admitted into Sci-Tech. And she was younger than we are."

Lacey's eyes go wide. "Whoa, seriously?"

Ava nods. "Mm-hmm. She and my uncle are super smart when it comes to science. She's a biochemist and he's an engineer. They work together a lot. Kinda like my parents do. While my parents are the dream team for field agents, my Auntie Jemma and Uncle Fitz are the dream team for the science aspect of all things SHIELD."

"Your mom heads up Communications, right?" Lacey asks.

"Sort of. She and my dad helped my Papa Phil build SHIELD back up after the Fall, and so she was in charge of getting the Communications department back up and running since my Papa Phil really trusted her with that kind of stuff. And she took charge of redesigning the Communications section of the Academy once they decided to reopen it all on one campus instead of three separate ones in different parts of the country."

"And what does your dad do again?"

"Well he helped redesign the Operations section of the Academy, with help from my Nana May and a few other agents. He helps out in the some of the classes sometimes like my mom does with Communications. He also started the K9 Unit, which I like to think is probably his greatest contribution besides me and my brother since I love dogs and a K9 Unit is a really good idea."

"Wow."

"What?"

Lacey shakes her head. "Nothing. It's just…you really do know a lot about SHIELD and the Academy."

Ava shrugs. "That's what happens when your parents are two of its top agents and you and your brother spend most of your free time hanging around the different bases."

"Certainly sounds like you've had an exciting life. And that you have a bit of leg up on the rest of us here."

Ava shrugs again. "I guess so." She takes a deep breath and glances at the alarm clock sitting on her bedside table. "So, should we head down to Orientation now?"

Lacey nods. "Yeah, we should probably do that. I want to get a good seat in the lecture hall."

"I told Adian that he could sit with us, so we might have to wait a little while when we actually get there." She grabs her cell phone off the side table, unplugging it from its charger, and slides it into her back pocket. "I'm not sure if he'll already been there or not."

"Okay, that's cool. He's your twin, right?" Lacey asks.

Ava nods as she grabs her dorm room key and slides it into her pocket as she flips the lock on the door while holding it open. "All my life."

"What's it like?" Lacey asks as Ava closes the door behind them as they step into the hallway. "I'm an only child, the closest thing I have to a sibling is my cousin Pierce who's three years older than me and he's kind of odd."

"It has its ups and downs," Ava tells her. "Some days I love Adian more than anything and want to tell him everything that happens in my life, and other days I want to pummel his face because he gets on my nerves. But even when he drives me crazy, he's my brother and I'd do pretty much anything for him. Just…don't tell him I said all that. He doesn't need to know."

Lacey laughs quietly. "Don't worry, I won't say anything."

Ava nods once. "Good, thank you."

"No problem. I mean, being a spy is all about keeping secrets, right?"

Ava smiles and nods. "Yes, I suppose it is."

.

.

.

"Adian!" Ava shouts when she sees her brother approaching the doors of the large, main lecture hall, sticking her hand up in the air to help him find her and Lacey in the large crowd making its way into the room.

"Hey." Adian gives the two girls a smile when he reaches them.

"Hey. Did your roommate come with you?" Ava asks her brother.

He shakes his head. "No. I guess he had to go and do something before Orientation, but we're meeting up later for the separate Operations Orientation."

"Oh, that's good."

"Yeah." He takes a deep breath. "So are you two ready for Orientation? I don't think it's supposed to be super long, just a short introduction into the basics of what we're doing here."

"Then let's go find some seats," Ava tells him. "Dead center?" she asks her brother.

He nods. "Hopefully there's still some seats open."

"There should be," Ava says, pulling open the door and stepping through, Adian and Lacey right behind her. "I don't think most cadets are going to want to sit in the direct eye line of whoever's leading Orientation."

"I wonder who's doing it," Lacey says. "I only know of a few agents in the organization, but I can't remember any of their names. Except for your guys' parents, obviously."

"Maybe it'll be Uncle Lance," Adian suggests, walking down one of the aisles toward the center of the seats, the two girls right behind him.

Ava shakes her head at the thought of her Uncle being in charge of Orientation. "No way. They'd never let him lead an Orientation. He'd probably inadvertently try and convince everyone to set something on fire," she says with a laugh.

"Or to do something completely reckless that ends in everyone involved having at least one broken or fractured bone."

"Wait, this guy is an agent?" Lacey asks with raised brows and wide eyes.

Adian and Ava both nod, walking down one row of seats to the middle and sitting down.

"He's not as crazy as we made him sound, though," Ava tells her roommate. "He's a good agent; he's just a little crazy and out there most of the time. But he's a lot of fun to be around, we like hanging out with him. Mom and dad didn't exactly like leaving him in charge of us when we were kids, though. But sometimes they didn't have any other options."

"Those were some of the best days," Adian says with reminiscent smile on his face at the crazy times he and his sister used to have with their Uncle.

"Attention, Cadets."

The three teens shift in their seats, turning their attention to the front of the lecture hall, Adian and Ava finding a familiar looking woman in a standard Agent uniform, an all black tactical outfit, standing behind a podium, her long blond hair pulled up into a high ponytail on top of her head and her hands clasped together in front of her.

The chattering among all of the cadets quickly dies down as they all face the agent in front of them.

"Aunt Bobbi," Ava whispers to herself with a small smile. She leans over to her brother. "Why didn't mom or dad tell us Aunt Bobbi was going to be one of our instructors?"

Adian shrugs. "I don't know."

"My name is Bobbi Morse," the older woman speaks up, drawing the twins' attention, "but you'll all be calling me Agent Morse, and I'll be one of your many instructors here at the SHIELD Academy. Over the next four years you will attend and participate in various lectures, both as one large group as you are now as well as within your individual divisions, training for your specific field of study. You will also take part in various simulations ranging from all levels of difficulty. All of this is to get you ready for your graduation when you will receive your badge and ID, becoming an official agent with SHIELD."

Adian and Ava both grin at each other in excitement.

"You will also conduct a minimum of one hundred hours of community service each year you are in attendance at this Academy. Some of your community service hours will be conducted at the local school for children of current agents as well as the training facility for the K9 Unit that was started not long after SHIELD began rebuilding."

"We just got out of that school," Adian says to Ava. "Now we're gonna have to go back there and help out?"

"You knew we'd have to," she reminds him. "And you loved it there."

"The layout of the Academy is much different than it was when it was first built," Bobbi explains. "It used to be three separate campuses located in various parts of the country. However, after the initial Fall of SHIELD, when we were beginning to rebuild, it was come to the decision among the remaining agents that placing all three campuses together on one central location would be beneficial to all cadets."

"Mom and dad helped redesign and rebuild," Ava says quietly.

"Yeah, I know, doofus."

"I know you know," she replies with a small roll of her eyes. "I was just stating a fact."

"Well can you stop?" he asks her. "I'm trying to pay attention."

"So am I. It's just kinda weird hearing all of this since we pretty much lived through a lot of it even if we can't remember some of it. And we grew up here so we already know the layout of this place like the back of our hands."

"Doesn't mean we shouldn't listen."

Ava sighs. "I never said it did, Adian. All I was saying is that I—"

"Am I boring you, Cadets?"

Adian and Ava quickly whip their heads toward Bobbi, seeing the older woman looking at them with a stern look on her face, one they've rarely seen directed at them, usually only at their Uncle when he'd irritate their aunt.

"No, ma'am," Ava replies immediately. "We're sorry. It won't happen again."

"It better not." She takes a deep breath and turns her attention back to the rest of the group. "As I was saying, while the campuses are all combined, cadets are expected to stay within their dorms at night as there will be head checks to make sure everyone is accounted for. However, we highly encourage you to intermingle and get to know your fellow cadets, even if they are not studying the same thing that you are. In your first year, all of your classes will be the same as your fellow cadets who share the same area of study. However, in the years following, your classes and training schedule will become more personalized based upon your skill set and what exactly you want to do within SHIELD. There are many pathways to choose from, so study hard, do your best, and figure out what best suits you and your abilities."

"We already know what we're gonna do," Ava says to her brother with a small smile.

Adian smiles back. "Yes we do." He holds his hand out to his sister for a low five, which she gives him.

The twins turn back to the front of the auditorium and listen attentively as Bobbi continues to address the cadets in the room, telling them all they'll need to know about their upcoming time at the Academy.

"Alright," Bobbi says after a few more minutes, "that's about all I have for you today as a whole group, but you do have Orientation within your respective fields in about twenty minutes. If you ever have any questions, or need anything, do not hesitate to ask me, or any of your other instructors. We're here for you, we want you to succeed." She waits a beat and then gives a small nod of her head. "You're excused."

All at once, the cadets in the room stand from their seats and begin making their way out of the lecture hall, their voices filling up the space and then filtering out as they leave.

Adian and Ava both wait a moment for their own row to clear out a little before standing and slowly making their way toward the exit, Lacey walking with them.

"I know we're going to our own Academies for Orientation," Adian speaks up, "but can we all meet back up in the cafeteria for lunch?"

"Obviously," Ava says. "We hardly know anyone here yet, of course we're going to sit together."

"Cool. And I might bring my roommate too."

"The more the merrier," she says with a smile. "We'll have our own little close-knit group, like mom, dad, Auntie Jemma, and Uncle Fitz."

"I don't think anyone has a friendship like them, but we can definitely give it a shot."

"Adian, Ava."

"I'll catch up with you outside," Ava says to Lacey, giving the other girl a small smile.

Once Lacey's up the stairs, Adian and Ava both turn around and smile when they see Bobbi approaching them. They walk a little ways to meet her near the bottom of the steps.

"Hi, Aunt Bobbi," Ava says with a smile. "I mean, Agent Morse. That's going to be so weird to say whenever I see you around campus."

Bobbi smiles softly. "Yeah, I'm sorry about all of that earlier. I didn't want to have to call you guys out, but I needed to set an example and I knew you wouldn't take it personally and that you'd still like me afterward." She lets out a small laugh.

"It's fine," Ava tells her. "We really don't want to be treated any different than any of the other cadets."

Bobbi nods. "Right. Then there will be no special treatment whatsoever. Promise. Now get going, you both have Orientation in your respective fields. You really don't want to be late and make a bad first impression on your instructors."

Adian nods. "Right. We'll see you around, Aunt Bobbi." He gently grabs Ava's wrist and pulls her along behind him and toward the door of the lecture hall.

"It's Agent Morse," she calls after the twins with a small smile and shake of her head.

* * *

"So remind me who the people we're sitting with are?"

Adian sighs in response to the boy next to him as they walk through the cafeteria, lunch trays in their hands. "I've already told you, Tyler."

"Yeah, I know. But I wasn't really paying attention."

"We're sitting with my twin sister Ava and her roommate Lacey," he tells his roommate.

Tyler nods. "Right. And are either of them cute?"

"Dude, seriously?"

"Yeah, man, I'm completely serious. Do you know how often we're going to be out in public while we're here? Hardly ever. Which means my only chance at meeting girls is right here at this very Academy."

"Well I'm pretty sure most of the girls here are focused more on becoming an agent than they are on finding a relationship."

"And maybe I'll be the one to change their mind," he says with a sly smile. "I'm known to be very persuasive."

Adian laughs quietly and shakes his head at his roommate's confidence. "Yeah, whatever. Just please don't use your so-called persuasion on my sister, okay?"

"Alright, man. But I can't promise she won't want me anyway."

"Trust me, Tyler. If I know my sister, and I do know my sister, she isn't going to want to be with you. Ever."

"Well then I guess we'll just have to go over there and see what happens, won't we?"

"You're really confident about this, aren't you?" Adian asks his roommate.

Tyler smiles and nods. "Oh, definitely."

"Care to make a little wager on it, then?"

Tyler stops and smirks. "What did you have in mind?"

"Fifty bucks says she shoots you down immediately after you put the moves on her."

"You're so on, man. Easiest fifty bucks I'll have ever made."

Adian laughs quietly to himself and shakes his head, continuing in his path to the table where his sister and Lacey are already sitting, talking quietly to each other.

"It's about time you showed up," Ava speaks up when she notices Adian approaching the table out of the corner of her eye. She turns to face him more. "I was wondering when you'd get here."

"Sorry," Adian says, sitting down and setting his tray on the table. "We were just having a little bit of a disagreement."

"About what?"

"Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head over," Tyler remarks with a sly smile on his lips.

Ava quirks a brow at him. "Excuse me?"

Tyler sits down right next to her, leaning over and draping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her a little closer to him. "You heard me, gorgeous."

Ava's quiet for just a moment before she throws her head back and starts laughing loudly, drawing the attention of a few tables around them. "Are you serious right now?" she asks Tyler. "Did you honestly think that was going to work?" She looks over at her brother. "Adian, who is this idiot and why is he sitting next to me?"

Adian smiles amusingly at his roommate immediately being shot down by his sister. "Ava, meet my roommate, Tyler Parks. Tyler, this is my twin sister Ava."

Ava looks back at the boy next to her. "Nice to meet you, Tyler. Why is your arm still around me?"

Tyler pulls his lips tight. "Right, sorry."

"Just don't do it again," Ava tells him, turning to look at her brother again. "So how did Operations Orientation go?" she asks him.

He shrugs. "Pretty okay. I already knew most of the stuff they were talking about, so it was only a little boring. We did get to run a few basic drills though, so that was sort of fun. What about you?"

"I honestly zoned out for most of it," Ava admits, picking at the food on her tray.

"Wait, you guys seriously didn't pay attention during Orientation?" Tyler asks, glancing back and forth between the siblings. "Why wouldn't you pay attention?"

"Did you not tell him?" Ava asks her brother.

Adian shrugs. "It never came up."

"What don't I know?" Tyler asks. "What's so important?"

"Adian and Ava's parents are Grant and Skye Ward," Lacey explains.

Tyler's eyes go wide. "Seriously? Grant and Skye Ward are your parents?" He lets out a breath. "Damn. Skye Ward is certainly one very fine piece of—"

Adian and Ava both cut the boy off with a punch to either arm.

"Dude, that's our mom," Adian says with narrowed eyes.

Tyler holds both of his hands up in defense. "Sorry, man. I'm just telling it how it is."

"Well you'd better not say it when my dad's around," Adian advises his roommate. "Doesn't matter if you're just a cadet, he'd most likely use his abilities on you and blast you in the behind without blinking an eye and you'd have some serious burns."

Tyler nods. "Duly noted. Though, your dad is a very lucky man for getting to be with your mom. She is very good looking."

"So is your dad," Lacey speaks up. "I'm actually a little jealous of your mom because of that."

Ava's head whips around to her roommate. "Lacey!"

The blonde girl shrugs. "What? It's the truth."

"And if you spoke that truth while mom was around, she wouldn't think twice about tossing you across the room with her abilities," Ava warns her friend.

"Well we can't exactly fault them for it," Lacey says. "They know they've got a good looking spouse and want to keep people off them."

"No we cannot," Tyler agrees. He shifts in his seat. "This is a bit off topic here, but I really have to ask, which one of you is older?" He gestures between the twins.

Adian raises his hand into the air. "By two minutes."

"Best two minutes of my life not having to share a space with you," Ava jokes, a small smile on her face.

Adian rolls his eyes. "That's probably the thousandth time you've said that," he tells his sister. "It's kind of lost its potency by now."

Ava shrugs. "Eh."

Tyler and Lacey laugh quietly at the bickering between the two siblings, turning their attention on their food as the conversation continues.

"Well look at what we have here. Two SHIELD prodigies sitting right before our very eyes."

Adian, Ava, Lacey, and Tyler look up from their conversation to see a tall boy with dirty blonde hair standing above them, a sneer on his lips and a hard look in his eyes; two other boys are flanking him, matching sneers on their faces.

"Who are you?" Ava asks the boy who's clearly the ring leader of the three.

"Of course you wouldn't know me," the boy says. "Two SHIELD prodigies like yourselves couldn't be bothered to know the names of anyone else outside their close knit circle that they've clearly already designated who gets to be a part of it."

"Dude, just calm down for a minute, okay?" Adian speaks up. "My sister and I have never met you before, which is why we don't know your name."

"My name's Dylan Cafrey," the boy tells them. "And you're Adian and Ava Ward. I know all about you two. The twin son and daughter of Grant and Skye Ward, two of SHIELD's top agents and world-renowned Inhumans Quake and Hellfire."

"Just because you know basic facts about our family doesn't mean you know anything about us," Ava cuts in with narrowed eyes. "So don't go around judging us before you do."

Dylan scoffs. "Whatever. But just because your parents are SHIELD royalty around here, don't expect any of us to go easy on you."

"We wouldn't want you to anyway," Adian tells him. "We worked hard to get here, just as much as anyone else here did, and we're going to prove that every single day that we're here. If you have a problem with us being here, fine, just don't talk to us and we'll be okay. We don't want any kind of trouble, we just want to make it through the Academy and become agents. Just like everyone else that's here."

"But you're  _not_  like everyone else that's here," Dylan reminds them.

"Well obviously," Ava says with a roll of her eyes. "We're all individuals; no one is the same as anyone else. The world would be pretty weird if everyone was the same."

Dylan whips his head toward Ava. "I don't need any lip from you."

"Hey. You better watch how you talk to my sister, Cafrey," Adian says, standing from his seat and sizing Dylan up.

"What are you gonna do about it, Ward?" Dylan asks him, stepping closer so they're toe to toe.

"Adian, stop," Ava speaks up, reaching out to place a hand on her brother's arm when she sees his hands curl into fists. "Just calm down."

"Yeah, Adian, calm down," Dylan taunts.

Adian's jaw hardens and his fists clench tighter as he stares down the other boy. He breathes in deeply, slowly, trying to slow his heart rate back down the way he'd been taught to do when he was younger.

"Cadets. Is there a problem over here?"

The small group turns to see one of their instructors at the Academy standing near them, hands behind their back and a stern look on their face.

"No, there's no problem here," Dylan says with a smirk. "We're just talking, getting to know each other a little better."

"Good. I'm sure you're all aware of the consequences of getting into an unsanctioned fight outside the designated training gyms."

"Yeah, we're aware," Adian says through gritted teeth.

The agent nods. "Good. I'll leave you all be." She turns around and walks away from the group, leaning them alone once again.

"Don't think this is the end of it," Dylan says quietly to Adian. "You better watch your back, Ward."

"And you better watch yours."

Dylan lets out a low laugh as he turns and walks away, his friends following right behind him out of the cafeteria.

Adian lets out a breath, sinking back down into his seat dejectedly, dropping his head into his hands as he rests his elbows on top of the table.

"Don't let him get to you, Adian," Ava says to her brother. "He's obviously insecure and just trying to get a rise out of you. Don't give him the satisfaction."

Adian sighs. "I know. And I managed to control my breathing and calm down. But I can't promise I'll be able to the next time he comes at me."

"Just as long as you don't lose control, okay?" she asks him with a pleading look. "Promise me you'll try not to lose control. Adian," she says a little more insistently when he doesn't respond. He looks up at her. "Please promise me you'll try not to lose control."

Adian nods slowly. "I promise I'll try. But I can't promise that I won't at some point."

"I just don't want anything to happen to you, Adian. You may annoy me most of the time, but you're still my brother."

Adian gives her a small smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes. "Thanks, Ava-loo. You're a good sister, you know that?"

Ava lets out a puff of air as she tosses some hair over her shoulder. "Obviously I am. I'm surprised it took you this long to finally notice."

The other three teens around the table laugh quietly amongst themselves, Ava quickly joining in with them as the conversation shifts to lighter subjects.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
> 
> Alright, so we've now met Adian's roommate Tyler who's definitely a fun character, just wait and see. And we've also met Dylan, someone who isn't particularly happy about the Ward Twins being at SHIELD Academy. Stay tuned to find out why. :)
> 
> Until next time,  
> Jellybean96 out!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A couple of tidbits are revealed about the Ward twins to their roommates

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for ya! This one gives you a little bit more of an insight into the twins' lives growing up.
> 
> Enjoy!

Letting out a loud grunt as his back hits hard against the dark blue training mat, Adian closes his eyes and breathes in deeply, working hard to keep his anger toward himself under control. This is not the time to lash out in any way, that wouldn't do him any good.

It takes a quick moment for him to recover from being thrown to the ground and then he's sitting up on the mat, blinking a few times to focus his eyes again to the room around him.

"Very nice take down, Logan," the instructor speaks up. "Adian, you had really good form, just need to work on reacting a little faster next time around."

Adian nods. "Yes, sir."

"Alright, I think that's it for today, everyone. Go hit the showers; I'll see you next time."

All the cadets in the room begin gathering up their towels and water bottles and head toward the locker rooms to shower and change.

"Dude, that was just sad how quickly you went down."

Adian glances up at Tyler. "Don't remind me." He accepts his friends' hand to help him up and brushes off his dark pants. "I honestly did not think I could be so exhausted after only a week of training," he says as he and Tyler make their way over to one of the benches along the side of the gym to grab their towels and water bottles.

"Really?" Tyler asks, breathing heavily as he takes a long sip from his water bottle.

Adian nods. "Yeah. I mean, I've kind of been training for the training for as long as I can remember."

Tyler quirks a brow. "Seriously?"

Adian nods again. "Yeah. Since my parents are both agents, Ava and I were always around here and the Triskellion whenever they needed to be. We sort of just started learning how to do the different moves and techniques."

"So how come Ava's not doing Operations then, if she knows a lot of the techniques?" Tyler asks as the two boys move toward the locker room door at the other end of the room.

"She was always more skilled at computer work than anything else," Adian explains.

Tyler nods in understanding. "Ah, right." He pulls open the locker room door, allowing him and Adian to enter the room, the door swinging closed behind them.

"But of course, that's not to say that she can't hold her own in a fight," Adian informs his roommate.

The two boys cross to the lockers and grab two empty ones right next to each other, pulling the doors open and setting their belongings inside.

"She certainly looks like she can," Tyler says with a small smirk.

Adian reaches out and punches his friend in the shoulder. "Easy, man. That's my sister."

"Yeah, I know that," Tyler says, rubbing gently at his arm, turning back to the inside of his locker.

"Good. So stop making comments like that about her, especially when I'm around."

"All I said was that she looks like she can handle herself in a fight."

"That may be what you said, but there were definitely some underlying tones there." He lets out a sigh as he sits down on the long bench running between the two rows of lockers and hangs his head. "I don't know if I can shower today, man. I'm way too tired to move anymore."

"I am too," Tyler tells him. "But if you don't shower, you're going to smell. And no one wants that. Especially me since I have to share a room with you."

Adian sighs, sitting quietly for a moment with his head down and his eyes closed, just thinking to himself. "I should probably shower, right?" he asks, cracking an eye open and looking up at his roommate.

Tyler nods his head. "Yeah, you should."

"Alright." He stands from the bench and grabs a couple of items out of his locker before turning toward the row of shower stalls at the back of the room.

Tyler follows not far behind him, his own shower items in his hands. The two teens enters two different shower stalls a little ways apart and turn the water on, letting it warm up as they strip down out of their work out gear.

Conversation continues to flow easily between the two boys as they shower.

.

.

.

"Dude, your phone keeps going off," Tyler announces from his place in front of his locker, t-shirt in his hand, ready to put on. "Make it stop."

"I'll be there in a minute," Adian calls back from inside his shower stall as he finishes up his shower.

A few minutes later, the faucet shuts off and Adian emerges from the stall with a fluffy white towel wrapped around his waist, water dripping from the ends of his dark hair and down his body.

He walks over to his locker, quickly dries his hands on the towel, and then reaches inside the tall metal box for his cell phone. Glancing at the screen, he smiles when he sees a new text message from his mom on the lock screen.  _Just got news from Charlie. He's gonna be a dad. :)_

"What's going on?" Tyler asks, using his own towel to dry his hair again.

"It's a text from my mom," Adian tells his roommate, sliding his thumb across the screen to reply to the message.  **That's so awesome! Tell him I said congrats.** "A friend of ours is going to be a dad. He and his wife have been trying for a few years and apparently they were finally successful."

"Good for them," Tyler says.

Adian smiles. "Yeah. Charlie's a really good guy; I know he'll be a good dad. Apparently he was really great with me and Ava when we were younger." He sets his phone back down and reaches inside the locker for his clothes.

"How long exactly have you known Charlie?" Tyler asks.

"As long as I can remember," Adian tells him, slipping his underwear on under his towel. "He was a fourth year Cadet in Operations when Ava and I were five." He removes the towel and reaches for his pants. "I vaguely remember hanging out with him at that age, but who really remembers stuff from when they were five?"

"Wait. This guy's an agent?" Tyler raises a brow. "And you call him by his first name?"

Adian nods and shrugs like it's no big deal. "Yeah."

"That's so weird. I don't know any cadets who call Agents by their first name. Unless they want to get seriously reprimanded or something."

"Yeah, well, you know Director Coulson and Deputy Director May?"

"What about them?"

Adian smiles as he slips his shirt on. "I call them Papa Phil and Nana May."

"Seriously?"

Adian nods. "Yeah. They're kind of like pseudo parents to my mom so that makes them grandparents for me and Ava."

"Wow. Anything else I should know regarding your family tree?"

"I call Hawkeye and Black Widow 'Uncle Clint' and 'Auntie Nat'," he says offhandedly with a small shrug of his shoulders.

Tyler's eyes go wide. "Seriously? You call Hawkeye and Black Widow 'Uncle Clint' and 'Auntie Nat'?"

"And Captain America is Uncle Steve, Iron Man is Uncle Tony, Hulk is Uncle Bruce, Thor is Uncle Thor, and Falcon is Uncle Sam."

Tyler blinks a few times. "Dude. You've seriously grown up with the Avengers as your aunt and uncles?"

Adian nods. "Yeah. But to me they've never really been the Avengers. They've just been family. I've been around them my entire life so I've never really seen them as anything different."

"Wow. You've got an insane life, man."

Adian chuckles, closing his locker and gathering up the rest of his things. "Trust me. I know. I'm the one who grew up with them."

"Any good stories you can tell?" Tyler asks him hopefully.

"None that wouldn't get me in trouble."

"Oh come on, Adian. We're in the boys' locker room at SHIELD Academy. The Avengers are probably off somewhere saving the day."

"Actually, I think Thor's off world, Tony and Bruce went to some science and technology expo, Steve and Sam are volunteering at a military function, and Clint and Nat are in another part of the world trying to relax but probably failing miserably."

"See, exactly my point, none of them are here. So you can tell me one, maybe two stories about them."

"Tyler, believe me when I tell you that even though they aren't here, they'd probably find out somehow that I told you a story about them. They're crazy good at what they do. Especially Uncle Clint and Auntie Nat. They weren't Strike Team Delta just because." Adian turns and begins walking toward the locker room door that leads out into the regular hallway.

Tyler starts after him. "I'm sure they're amazing, I've heard the stories. But does that really mean you can't tell me a crazy story about them from when you were growing up?"

Adian nods his head. "Yes, it most definitely does."

Tyler frowns. "You suck, you know that?"

"Well I'm sorry if I'd rather not be on the Avengers' bad side because I told you crazy stories about them. Although, Uncle Tony would probably be the first one to tell you a crazy story about himself."

"And that right there should be reason enough for you to tell me something," Tyler insists.

Adian rolls his eyes. "Forget it, Tyler. I'm not telling you anything. Now come on, I'm hungry. Working out like that gives me one hell of an appetite."

Tyler chuckles. "Yeah, dude, I've seen you eat. It's no joke. It's like you're eating your last meal or something."

"I think I get it from my dad. Mom said that since he became Inhuman he's put away a lot more food than he did when they first met."

"His abilities are fire related, right?"

Adian nods. "Yeah. Supposedly he can summon the fires of hell but it's never actually been proven if he can. Didn't stop anyone from giving him the codename Hellfire when he first started on missions after he got his powers, though."

"Super sick codename, by the way. And maybe his fire abilities had something to do with putting away more food."

Adian shrugs. "I don't know, maybe. Doesn't exactly explain why I'm the same way when I don't have fire related abilities, or abilities of any kind, but I'd rather not dwell on it."

Tyler nods. "Right, yeah, no problem. To the cafeteria we go."

Adian chuckles quietly at his roommate, following after him on their way to the cafeteria, conversation flowing easily between them again.

.

.

.

"Did you hear about Charlie?" Ava asks Adian as soon as he and Tyler sit down at the table in the cafeteria, dropping their bags to the floor at their feet.

Adian nods. "Yeah. Mom texted me earlier. I'm really happy for them."

Ava smiles. "So am I. They're going to have such cute babies. I can just see their cute little faces right now."

"You know, we'd have some pretty cute babies too," Tyler says to Ava with a wink.

Ava rolls her eyes at the boy. "In your dreams, Ty."

"Oh, I'll see you there."

Ava just laughs and shakes her head at his antics. She takes a deep breath and shifts a little in her seat. "So how was training today?" she asks her brother, picking at the food on her tray.

Adian shrugs. "As it usually is. Got knocked down again, though. I shouldn't be getting knocked on my back. I've trained with the Avengers of all people."

"Maybe that's why you're getting knocked down every time," Ava suggests.

Adian furrows his brows. "What?"

"Obviously you're used to training with them so you're used to their fighting style. You're overly confident which results in you being knocked down time and time again."

Adian tilts his head in thought. "I think you might be right, Ava."

Ava grins. "Well that's certainly a first. You don't like admitting when I'm right. Even though I am a lot of the time. I'm very proud of you for taking this monumental first step."

Adian rolls his eyes at his sisters' comment. "Shut up, Ava."

"Make me."

"Wait," Lacey speaks up, interrupting the conversation between the two siblings before it can go any further. "You've trained with the  _Avengers_?"

Adian nods and looks over at the blonde. "Yeah. Ava and I both have."

Lacey turns and hits her roommate on the arm, earning a small noise of protest from the other girl. "Seriously? How come you never told me that you've trained with the Avengers? Why am I just finding out about this now?"

"Because we've only known each other a week and it hasn't come up in conversation until now?" Ava tries with a small smile.

"Girl, this is the type of thing you don't just wait for it to come up in conversation. You actually bring it up yourself."

Ava shrugs. "I didn't think it was that big of a deal."

"Maybe you see it that way, but to the rest of us mere mortals who aren't SHIELD royalty, it's a pretty big deal."

Ava frowns at her roommate. "You know, I'm actually not a very big fan of that term."

Lacey furrows her brows. "What term?"

" _SHIELD royalty_."

"Why not?"

"Because it makes me and Adian seem like we're a lot better than we really are. We're honestly just a couple of teenagers trying to get by in life and become Agents."

"Well, yeah, but you guys basically grew up here," Tyler interjects. "And you call the Avengers family. I don't know that many teenagers who can say that."

"It's only because of our parents," Adian states. "Papa Phil has always seen mom like a daughter from pretty early on in their relationship. And he was also really close with Auntie Nat and Uncle Clint. And Uncle Tony. So they kind of became pseudo uncles and aunt for me and Ava. After they found out that Papa Phil was alive and stopped being pissed that they weren't told. The rest of the Avengers followed soon after that."

"I'm pretty sure Auntie Nat still holds that over him," Ava says. "Mom said that she was pretty upset for a while because she—"

"Oh look, it's our resident wipe out."

Adian sighs and looks over his shoulder to see Dylan walking by their table, a smug smile on his face as he gets closer to them. He takes a few slow deep breaths, just wanting this all to be over.

"Better work on your moves, Ward. Don't wanna wash out and disappoint mom and dad." The teen laughs darkly as he veers away from the table, leaving the room with his group of friends.

"Think the Academy would kick me out if I hacked into his records and messed with them?" Ava asks no one in particular as she glares after the boy.

"I wouldn't risk it," Adian says with a shake of his head. "Just don't worry about it. I don't want it becoming a bigger deal that it is."

Ava sighs. "Fine. But if it escalates beyond him just harassing you verbally then no one is going to be able to hold me back from messing that kid up."

"Ava, I'll be right there next to you knocking him down a few pegs."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
> 
> Until next time,  
> Jellybean96 out!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new friend is introduced to the twins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for ya! Been a while, and I apologize. I've had work and other stories I've been working on as well. But I wanted to get this chapter up for you all.
> 
> This one introduces a new character into the mix. Hope you like him. :)
> 
> Enjoy!

"Damn it!" Ava grumbles under her breath, hitting her fist against the metal cafeteria table as she stares at the laptop screen in front of her, multiple lines of code flashing before her eyes as her eyes flit back and forth across it. "Why can't I figure this thing out? Ugh! It shouldn't be so difficult."

"Something wrong?"

Ava looks up from her laptop to see a tall boy with short, light brown hair standing next to her, his dark brown eyes looking at her with a mix of amusement and concern. He's dressed in the standard cadet uniform, a small book bag slung over his shoulder.

"Hi," she says.

"Hi," he says back. "Is everything okay over here? I couldn't help but notice your sudden anger at the computer in front of you and I'd hate for such beautiful machinery to get damaged in any violent fit of rage."

She shifts in her seat and glances at her computer. "Oh, that. I uh, I'm just having a little trouble with one of the coding programs I'm supposed to do as homework. Usually this stuff is no problem for me and I can get it done pretty quickly, but for some reason, this one just doesn't want to work with me and I can't, for the life of me, figure out why."

"Maybe I could help you," he offers.

Ava waves off the offer. "Thanks. But I'll probably just call my mom later. She's ten times better than me with this kind of stuff. I think she even wrote some of the programs we're working with this year. If I call her it could possibly be considered cheating, but honestly, this program really has me stuck so I might just do it later tonight when I get back to my dorm."

The boy nods. "Alright. Well if you won't accept my help, can I at least know your name?"

"Oh, right, sorry. It's Ava. Ava Ward."

The boy smiles. "Nice to meet you, Ava. I'm Brian. Brian Collins."

"Nice to meet you too, Brian," Ava says with a small smile. "Are you in Communications also?" she asks him. "I couldn't help but notice your comment about 'beautiful machinery' and I don't think someone coming out of Operations would refer to a laptop like that."

He nods. "Yeah. I'm in my second year. You?"

"First year Communications. Obviously," she says, gesturing to her laptop.

"Very cool." He pulls out the seat next to her and sits down, setting his back down on the floor next to him and resting his forearms on the table. "So what made you want to join SHIELD?"

She shakes her head and leans back in her chair. "You first."

He laughs quietly and nods. "Alright. I want to help people," he says simply. "The first time I heard about SHIELD was back when it was just starting to be rebuilt after the Fall and after I did some reading up on it I had this really strong feeling that I was meant to be here someday. But I'm not the most athletically inclined person in the world, and I have asthma, so I knew Operations and any heavy field work would be out of the question for me. And I didn't do too well with science and math in school, so that meant Sci-Tech was out as well. Which left Communications as the only option for me. I poured everything I had into the computer, learning everything that I could so I'd hopefully be able to attend SHIELD Academy when I was old enough."

"And here you are," Ava says with a smile.

Brian smiles and nods. "Here am I." He takes a deep breath. "So what's your story? What made you decide to join SHIELD?"

Ava furrows her brows and bites her bottom lip between her teeth, trying to decide exactly how much of her family history she wants to reveal to this new teen.

"I've always wanted to be a part of SHIELD," she admits. "For as long as I can remember I've wanted to be a part of SHIELD. I'm not very athletically inclined either, I've always had a preference to technology ever since I was really little, so that's the route I went with SHIELD. And I know it's only been a couple of weeks and I'm only in the Academy, but I already feel like I'm making a difference here. I can't really explain the feeling, but I know that I love the way I feel whenever I'm here. I always have."

Brian furrows his brows. "Always have?"

"Mom and dad say hi," Adian unknowingly interrupts the pair as he approaches the table, preventing Ava from responding to Brian's question.

"You talked to them?" Ava asks him.

He nods as he sits down, setting his tray in front of him. "Yeah. Saw them on the Quad on my way over here. I guess mom's helping out with something on campus today and then she and dad are going dark for a few days for a specialty mission but they'll call us when they can."

Ava frowns. "That sucks. I was gonna call mom later and ask her for some help on this coding assignment."

"Isn't that technically considered cheating?" Adian asks her, popping a French fry into his mouth.

Ava shrugs. "No one has to know. And it's not like I'm going to ask her exactly how to do it. Just for some tips on how to get through it without destroying my computer by throwing it across the room."

Adian nods. "Ah, right." His head tilts and his brows furrow when he notices the other boy sitting at the table. "Who's this?" he asks, gesturing with his head.

"This is Brian," Ava tells him. "He's in Communications too, but he's in his second year. Brian, this is my twin brother Adian, he's in Operations."

"Operations?" Brian asks.

Adian nods. "Yeah."

"Wow. That's pretty cool, man. Wish I had the muscles for that."

"Thanks. So how long have you known my sister?" Adian asks, his eyes locked on Brian.

"We just met today, actually," Brian tells him with a small smile. "She got upset with her laptop and I came over to make sure she was doing okay and didn't do something rash to her computer. We've just been sitting here talking." He looks over at Ava. "I should probably get going, though. I have a class soon but I wanted a quick snack before I went. I guess there's this one Communications agent coming to asses some of our stuff but she's also a field agent, so she's pretty tough on everybody. But I'll see you around?" he asks, standing up from his seat and pushing it in.

Ava nods with a small smile. "Yeah, definitely."

"Great. Well it was really nice to meet you, Ava."

"You too, Brian."

Brian gives her a small smile in return before turning around fully and making his way out of the cafeteria.

"He was totally hitting on you," Adian remarks as he focuses his attention back on his food.

Ava's brows furrow as she turns back to her brother. "What? No he wasn't."

"Yes, he was. I'm a guy, Ava, I know how guys think and act on a mostly regular basis. And that guy was one hundred percent hitting on you."

"What? How could you even tell that?"

"It's all in the body language. I can't believe you didn't see it, it was so obvious."

"It was not."

"Clearly not to you. But I could definitely see it."

"See what?" Lacey asks as she approaches the table.

"Some guy was hitting on Ava."

Lacey grins and turns her attention on her roommate. "Really? Was he cute?"

Ava sighs. "I don't know. I honestly wasn't paying that much attention to him. All we did was talk."

"Well you're going to have to point him out to me the next time you see him around campus," Lacey insists. "I have to check him out for you, make sure he's good enough."

"Make sure who's good enough?" Tyler asks, setting his tray on the table and sitting down between Adian and Lacey.

"Some guy who was hitting on Ava," Lacey answers nonchalantly.

Tyler's eyes go wide and he looks at the brunette. "What? Some other guy was hitting on you? Do I really mean that little to you now?"

Ava rolls her eyes at Tyler's dramatics. "Shut up, Tyler. You know you're the only guy I can tolerate hitting on me so blatantly obviously. Because I know you know it's never going to happen. No harm no foul."

"But this guy wasn't hitting on her like Tyler does," Adian explains to the others. "He was being really subtle about it, he offered to help her with her Communications work, and asked if he'd see her around later."

Tyler shakes his head. "The guy's got no style, it's no wonder Ava didn't notice it. At least I make sure the girls know that I want them."

"And none of them ever want you back," Ava counters.

Tyler frowns playfully and clutches at his chest where his heart lies beneath. "Why do you always have to hurt me like that, Ava-loo?"

Ava's eyes narrow and she points a finger at him. "No one calls me that except for my parents, my brother, my grandparents, and a select few aunts and uncles. Got it?"

Tyler holds his hands up in defense, nodding his head. "Got it. Loud and clear. Won't happen again." He slowly lowers his hands. "I'll just have to think of another nickname for you. One that's all mine."

Ava chuckles quietly. "Good luck with that, Ty. I'd like to see you try and come up with something that doesn't border on sexual harassment."

"Oh, his flirting takes care of that," Lacey says. "It's a wonder he hasn't had any complaints against him yet from any of the girls on campus."

"It's because all the ladies here secretly want me," Tyler tells them. "They're all just way too scared to admit it."

Ava snorts. "Sure they are."

"They are," Tyler insists.

Lacey rolls her eyes. "Whatever. Can we start a new subject, please? Anything else other than Tyler's failed attempts at flirting with the opposite gender."

Adian and Ava both laugh quietly at the sour look on Tyler's face, Lacey joining in shortly after.

"Oh, Adian, did mom and dad say where they're going, or just that they'll be going dark?" Ava asks once she stops laughing.

"Just that they'll be going dark," Adian tells his sister. "You know that can't usually tell us where they're going."

"Yeah, I know."

"Wait, your parents are going dark?" Lacey asks. "As in they're going on a mission?"

Ava nods. "Yeah. They didn't go on a ton of missions when Adian and I were little, mainly because they were helping rebuild SHIELD, but also because they didn't want to accidentally make us orphans somehow."

"When we were in high school they went on occasional missions here and there, but they never went too far and never stayed away for too long."

"But I guess that now that we're in the Academy, they've decided to start taking on more missions. Well, as many as they can considering they still have divisions to look over here and with the Inhumans."

"Aren't you guys worried about them going out on missions?" Lacey asks.

"Of course we are," Adian tells her. "But we're relatively okay with it. They may not have gone on a lot of missions when we were younger, but they still did occasional missions here and there. We've always known what they've done."

"It might worry us a little, the idea of them going into firefights and what not, but we know they're doing what they love. And that they're helping people and keeping the world safe. Makes it a little easier."

Lacey nods. "Right. And what's the craziest mission they've ever been on?"

"We don't know," Adian tells her. "They've never told us about their missions."

"They always threw that whole 'It's Classified' crap at us whenever we asked," Ava says. "I tried hacking into SHIELD's security once to find the files, but mom's the one who redid everything when they built back up, so it's super tight knit and everything. Basically unhackable now."

"Yeah, I heard somewhere that SHIELD's security used to be crap," Tyler remarks.

Ava nods. "It totally was. But obviously SHIELD isn't going to include that in the history books, even if they're trying to be better than they were before. But yeah, their system used to be total crap. Mom hacked into it a couple of times before. It's how they picked her up, but only because she wanted them to. So they had her head up the rebuilding of their cyber security after the Fall."

"Wow. That's actually pretty legit," Tyler says.

"Your mom is amazing," Lacey adds. "I mean, everything she does for this organization, she's incredible. I hope to be able to do as much as she does someday."

"Yeah, she's pretty great," Ava mutters, looking back at the computer screen in front of her, focusing on the coding in front of her as she continues to type away, her brows furrowed and her lip bit in concentration.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
> 
> Until next time,  
> Jellybean96 out!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a casual day on campus, running into Quake and all that, you know how it goes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for ya! It's been a while, I apologize. I was working on my '25 Days of Skyeward' collection and a few other stories as well as some personal stuff.
> 
> But now I'm back with a new chapter for you to read, even though it's not super exciting. 
> 
> Enjoy!

"Do you really think you can help me with the latest assignment?"

Ava nods her head in the affirmative as she and Lacey exit their classroom and begin walking down the hall toward the main lobby. "Yeah, definitely. Once you understand the concepts it's pretty easy to finish."

"And it won't be considered cheating?" Lacey asks nervously.

Ava furrows her brows in confusion and looks over at her roommate. "Why would you think it'd be considered cheating?"

Lacey shrugs. "I don't know. Maybe because your mom wrote the program."

"She may have written the program we're using for class, but that doesn't mean she shares it with me throughout the whole process of creating it. That'd be pretty cool if she did, but she doesn't, unfortunately."

Lacey nods. "Right, sorry."

Ava smiles. "It's fine. I get where you're coming from, though. Sometimes I've tried to sneak a peek at what she works on for classes, so I could have a little bit of a leg up when I got here. But she keeps all of her files heavily encrypted, probably more than SHIELD's actual cyber security, so I've never been able to get into any of them. That's not to say I never tried, though."

Lacey's brows knit together. "Hang on, I thought you're freaky good with computers."

"Not like my mom is, I can promise you that. She may only have been hacking since she was about sixteen, but she did it for survival purposes and then joined a hacktivist group not long after going out on her own. Also, she says CS has always come pretty naturally to her, that she didn't really have to work too hard to learn it, so I guess there's that too. And she learned a lot of skills while working for SHIELD too."

"What about you?" Lacey asks. "It seems to come pretty naturally to you too."

Ava shrugs. "I get it from mom, I guess. Obviously I'm not as skilled as she is, but I like to think I'm still pretty good."

"You most definitely are," Lacey tells her with a smile. "Sometimes I'm seriously amazed at how quickly you finish some of the assignments."

Ava laughs quietly. "It's a gift."

"Yeah, a gift that I'd love to have."

"Just work harder."

"Says the girl who hardly has to study."

Ava holds her hands up in defense. "Whoa, it's not my fault that my mom is so amazing at CS and then passed it on to me."

"Hey! Ava! Ava, wait up!"

Stopping in her tracks at hearing her name being called, Ava looks away from her conversation with Lacey to see Brian quickly jogging toward them, his backpack slung loosely over one shoulder.

She smiles softly at him once he reaches them, subconsciously tucking some hair back her ear. "Brian, hey."

"Hey," he says back, breathing a bit heavily from the jogging.

"What are you doing over here?" Ava asks him as casually as she can manage to without sounding rude in some way.

He shifts on his feet. "I uh, I just saw you walking by and wanted to come over and say hi."

"Oh. Well, hi," she says with a small smile.

"Hi," he says back with just as small a smile.

"You two are so weird," Lacey speaks up, breaking the silence between the two teens. "Please don't act like this around each other all the time, okay? I don't think I'd be able to handle all the unresolved sexual tension that goes on between you two whenever you're around each other."

"Lacey!" Ava shouts, turning to hit her roommate on the arm, her eyes wide. "What the hell's wrong with you?" she whisper shouts.

Lacey shrugs. "What? You know it's accurate."

"Doesn't matter. Shut up."

"Ava?"

Turning her head, Ava grows a big smile on her face when she sees her mom approaching her, an equally as wide smile on the older woman's face.

Ava moves quickly toward the other woman and hugs her tightly, breathing in deeply at the familiar warmth the engulfs her. "What are you doing here?" she asks her mom when she pulls back from the hug.

"Your father and I were over at the Sanctuary helping a couple of new Inhumans get settled in, figured we'd come by here and see if any of the instructors needed anything before we headed home. Turns out they do. How are you doing?"

Ava shrugs. "Pretty good."

"And how are your studies going?"

She smiles. "Awesome. I'm totally dominating everyone else with all this CS work."

Skye runs a hand affectionately over her daughter's hair with a small smile. "Well don't get too overconfident, okay? That could be your downfall if you let yourself get too cocky."

Ava sighs. "Yes mom, I know. You've told me that before. I promise I won't let myself get too cocky in my work. But you might want to remind Adian of that too. You know how he used to train with Uncle Clint and Auntie Nat all the time? Well, apparently he feels like he shouldn't be losing every sparring session in his classes because of that."

"I actually just got done talking to your brother," Skye tells her daughter.

"You did?"

Skye nods. "Mm-hmm."

"Wait, Agent Skye Ward is your mother?" Brian speaks up, his eyes wide and his brows raised.

Ava looks at him. "Um, yeah. You didn't put that together when I told you my last name?"

"Obviously not."

"Huh. Usually that's the first thing people around here know, so sometimes I avoid saying my last name when I can."

"You do?" Skye asks, her brows furrowing. "How come your father and I didn't know this?"

Ava shrugs. "It's not really a big deal, honestly. I promise you everything's fine. I'm not ashamed of you guys or my last name or who my family is, I swear. But how did it go with the Inhumans? It still couldn't have been very easy even after all these years."

"It went about as well as you might expect," Skye replies. "They seem to be settling in well enough. They're not thrilled about not being able to be with their family, though, but your dad and I reassured them that everything would be alright if they just worked hard and stayed focused."

"I think I remember hearing very similar words my entire life," Ava says with a smile.

Skye smiles back. "That's because your father and I are very wise people. We've lived through a lot and therefore know a lot."

Ava nods. "Yeah, good point."

"I thought it was." She takes a deep breath. "Alright, I should probably get going now before Harold starts getting on my case about being late even though I'm technically his boss."

"And Papa Phil is yours which means Harold would just go straight to him."

Skye waves off the comment. "Yeah. But we both know your Papa Phil wouldn't reprimand me for being five minutes late to a meeting with Harold. He'd try to scold me but would ultimately feel bad."

Ava laughs quietly. "I love you, mom."

Skye smiles and pulls Ava in for a hug. "I love you too, Ava-loo. So much." She drops a kiss to the top of her daughter's head and then pulls away. "Are you sure you're okay? You don't need anything from me or your dad while we're here?"

Ava shakes her head. "No, I'm fine. Classes are great, roommate is awesome, no one's giving us special treatment. I promise you everything is good. We're fine. You and dad don't need to worry."

"It's our job to worry about you and your brother, Ava. It's part of the territory that comes with being a parent. Especially when you're parents of twins. You're allowed to worry about your kids."

"Well I wouldn't know about that."

"And you won't for a very long time," Skye remarks with a stern face. "I'm too young to be a grandmother yet."

Ava laughs quietly. "Don't worry, mom. I don't plan on having kids for a long time. My main focus right now is just getting through my classes and becoming an agent."

Skye nods. "Good. So then I should probably leave you to your studies."

"That would be preferable, yes."

Skye smiles. "Alright. Am I allowed to give you another hug before I go? Or will that ruin your reputation?"

Ava smiles back. "I think another hug will be okay."

"Well I'm glad you think so, but I was going to give you one whether you wanted it or not." Skye takes a small step forward and pulls her daughter into one last hug. "I love you so much, Ava-loo."

Ava smiles at the nickname. "I love you too, mom."

Pulling apart from the hug, Skye gives Ava's arm an affectionate squeeze before turning around and walking away.

"Wow. That was so surreal."

"What was?" Ava asks, turning toward Lacey and Brian.

"Seeing Agent Ward acting like a human being instead of an agent."

Ava's brow furrows. "And I think it's weird that you guys think it's weird to see my mom act like a mom."

"It's because we've only ever heard stories and seen pictures of Quakefire, never actually seen them in person or been in the same room as one or both of them."

"Quakefire?"

Lacey nods. "Yeah. Quake and Hellfire. Quakefire."

Ava blinks. "Okay, I lied. Hearing my parents referred to as Quakefire is way weirder than anything on this planet. Ever."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below.
> 
> This one honestly feels like a bit of a filler chapter, but hey, sometimes those things happen. You got a little more insight, though, I think. :)
> 
> Until next time,  
> Jellybean96 out!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tragedy strikes close to home for the twins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for ya! This one's not necessarily 'fun', but hopefully it tugs at your heartstrings a little.
> 
> Enjoy!

* * *

_"Attention all cadets. Please report to the main lecture hall immediately for an important announcement."_

"We'll pick this lesson up where we left off tomorrow," the Communications instructor says to the small class in front of him. "Please log off your stations and head straight to the lecture hall. No wandering."

Ava and Lacey share a confused look before quickly saving their work, logging off of their stations, and gathering up their belongings to head out of the classroom.

The two girls stick close together as they follow their fellow classmates out of the building and across the Quad toward the largest lecture hall on campus, where they had Orientation on the first day, joining up with the Cadets from the two other Academy sections as they go.

Reaching the lecture hall, Ava pulls the large door open and allows Lacey to step inside before following behind her, the brunette teen's eyes immediately searching the massive room for her brother.

"I see Adian," she speaks up after a minute to Lacey, having spotted her brother sitting as close to the center of the room as he could possibly get. She immediately moves forward, Lacey not far behind her.

"How on earth did you find him so fast in a crowd like this?" Lacey asks her roommate as they move through the rows of cadets milling about trying to find seats to where Adian is sitting with Tyler, the two boys talking quietly to each other.

Ava shrugs in response to her roommate's question. "Must be a twin thing. Growing up it was never hard for one of us to find the other, even in a large crowd. These seats for us?" she asks when she reaches her brother, pointing to the two empty seats next to him.

Adian looks up at her and nods. "Yeah. Figured you'd find us sooner or later."

"So do you know what's going on?" Ava asks as she sits down right next to her brother with Lacey on her other side. She drops her backpack to the floor and pushes it under her seat so it's not in anyone's way.

"Not a clue," Adian replies with a small shake of his head. "Tyler and I just got here from class a few minutes ago. I think it's pretty serious, though, because it's more than just the instructors that are here. Papa Phil and Nana May are here too. They don't usually come to lectures for cadets so everyone's pretty confused about why they want us here."

Ava looks around the room. "Something tells me this isn't just another lecture." Her brows furrow together as an uncomfortable chill runs through her spine. "Something's off. I can't explain it, but something just feels off."

"If everyone could please quiet down."

Adian and Ava look down toward the front to see their Papa Phil standing at the front of the room behind the wooden podium, a solemn look on his face.

"Unfortunately," he begins speaking, "this job that we have here, protecting the world and keeping it safe, is not a risk-free job. It comes with many risks that we can't always foresee going into a mission."

Ava sucks in a quick breath, her heart beat increasing.

"Occasionally, agents will lose their lives. As much as we wish it would not happen, the fact of the reality is that it does happen. And some of the time, there's nothing we can do to stop it."

"I don't like where this is going," Ava tells her brother.

He shakes his head. "Neither do I."

"Such was the case earlier today," Coulson continues. He takes a deep breath and stands a little taller, squaring his shoulders as he looks over the group of cadets gathered together. "A small group of highly skilled agents went into a classified area of the world to investigate a series of bombings happening overseas that took a number of innocent lives. It's unclear as of now whether it was a direct attack on our agents, or just unfortunate timing, but the agents who went in…never came home."

Ava's heart beat speeds up. "Didn't mom and dad go overseas for something?" she asks her brother. "Please tell me they didn't go overseas."

"I think they went for something else."

"Please let that be true."

"At this time, I'm going to read off the names of those agents whose lives were lost." He takes a deep breath before glancing down at the sheet of paper in front of him and reading the names aloud. "Toby Carlin. Paul Anderson. Charlie Richardson."

Ava's heart sinks down low into her stomach as she blindly reaches out for her brother's hand, gripping it tightly as she zones out for the rest of the name reading. This can't be happening. Not now.

"It's unfortunate that we lost these great agents today."

She pulls herself out of her thoughts and focuses her attention back on Phil, watching and listening as he continues to address the cadets.

"They were all amazing men and incredible agents who were willing to do what needed to be done to keep this planet safe. As you go about the rest of your time here at the Academy, whether it's three years or just a few months, even though you may not have known these men, think about their names and let it be a reminder to you about how—"

"About how we're all basically being led to our deaths?"

It's out before she can register that it is, standing up in the middle of the lecture hall, staring down the man who used to tell her bedtime stories of Captain America's adventures in the 40's with his Howling Commandos.

"Cadet Ward, please have a seat."

Her jaw hardens and she narrows her eyes at him. "No, I won't. Those men are not a teaching tool,  _Director_. They're sons and brothers, some of them even husbands and fathers. Charlie Richardson." She swallows thickly. "Charlie was supposed to finally become a dad. Do you remember how broken he was whenever it turned out that Nancy wasn't pregnant? Because I do, clear as day. And now they're finally going to have a family and he won't even be here to see it. I know you remember all of that, Phil, so don't stand down there and act like you don't."

Before anyone can say anything else, Ava's turning on her heel and marching out of the lecture hall, leaving everyone in a stunned silence.

A few of the agents down at the front of the room move to go after her but May holds an arm out to stop them from moving any further.

"Let her cool off," she instructs.

Adian slowly stands from his seat and looks at Phil and May. "I'm uh, I'm just gonna go and check on my sister." He carefully makes way out of the row of cadets, being sure to grab his and Ava's bags, and then jogs up the remaining stairs to push out through the lecture hall doors and into the hallway.

"Ava?" he calls out once he's in the empty hallway. "Ava, where are you?"

Hearing quiet sniffling coming from around the corner, Adian follows the noise to find his sister curled up in a corner, her knees pulled up to her chest and her face buried between them, her small body shaking as she cries.

He slowly approaches and sits down next to her, placing a comforting hand on her back as he sets their bags down next to him. "It's gonna be okay, Ava," he says quietly.

Ava's head shoots up toward him, fire in her teary eyes. "How the hell is it going to be okay? Charlie's dead, Adian. He's dead and he's never coming back. He was supposed to be a dad. Now his child isn't going to know him. You remember how excited he was about finally getting to be a dad. Now he'll never get to meet him or her."

Adian nods. "I know. And it sucks. But we can't let it keep us from living our lives, okay?"

"Why shouldn't we?" Ava asks. "Aren't we allowed to mourn a friend?"

"Of course you are."

Adian and Ava look up to see their Nana May standing in front of them, neither of them having heard her approach. They're both still amazed to this day at her ability to move so silently no matter where she is.

The older woman kneels down in front of the teens, her eyes focusing on Ava. "I think what your brother meant is that you can't let mourning Charlie keep you from living your life. And I think you know that he'd want you to keep working hard and become the best agents you can be. He's always been one of your biggest supporters."

Ava looks at her grandmother with sad eyes. "I'm gonna miss him so much."

May pulls the young girl into her arms and gently rubs at her back, holding her tightly and rocking her gently, like she's done so many times when the girl was younger.

A soft trilling fills the area as Ava's cell phone goes off in her pocket. She pulls away from May and reaches into her pocket to pull the device out. She doesn't even bother looking at the caller ID when she answers the call.

"Hello?" she says into the receiver.

_"Hello? Ava? Sweetheart, is that you?"_

Ava's entire body perks up at the sound of the voice. "Daddy?"

Adian's attention is piqued at Ava's words. "Dad?"

Ava simply nods her head at her brother before pulling the phone down and hitting the speaker button. "Dad, I've put you on speaker. Adian's here. And Nana May."

" _Are you kids okay?"_

"Of course we are, dad. What about you and mom? Are you guys okay? Papa Phil just told everyone about the bombing that happened overseas."

" _We're fine, Ava. Your mom and I were nowhere near the bombing when it went off."_

"You weren't?"

" _No, we weren't. We're perfectly fine. I promise you."_

Ava lets out a relieved breath. "Okay, good. I don't know what Adian and I would do if something happened to you and mom."

" _Well let's hope none of us ever have to find that out."_

"Yeah, let's hope so," Adian says.

"When are you and mom coming home?" Ava asks him.

_"Tomorrow. Your Papa Phil wants us out as soon as possible but we still have a few things to finish up here before we can leave."_

"Okay. Hey dad?"

_"Yeah?"_

"I love you. A lot."

_"I love you a lot too."_

"And dad?"

_"Yeah?"_

"I don't think we've ever said it, but Adian and I are really glad you and mom didn't go on really dangerous missions when we were little."

_"So are we, Ava. Your mom and I didn't want to risk missing a single second of you and your brother growing up."_

"I'm glad to hear that." She breathes in deeply. "So, uh, I should probably let you go now."

_"Yes, I suppose so. I love you so much, Ava-loo."_

"I love you too, daddy. Tell mom that me and Adian say hi and that we love her."

_"I'll make sure she gets the message."_

"Good. See you when you get home."

_"Bye, sweetheart."_

"Bye."

Pulling the phone away from her ear, Ava ends the call and holds the device in her hand as she slumps back against the wall.

"Why didn't you tell him about Charlie?" Adian asks his sister curiously.

She sighs. "He shouldn't hear it from me. Mom and dad will hear it from Papa Phil once they get back. I really don't want to be the one to tell them that one of their closest friends is dead."

"Yeah, I guess I can't really blame you there. Now come on," he says, gesturing with his head to the entrance door. "Let's get out of here and go do something."

"Like what?" she asks.

"Anything to take your mind off what's going on. Come on, Ava, you know you want to."

Ava sighs and she nods. "Fine, let's go do something."

Adian smiles. "Good." He stands up from the floor and holds his hand out to her, helping her up from the floor. He grabs their bags off the floor and then loosely wraps an arm around her shoulders while she wraps one around his waist, leaning her head comfortably on his shoulder.

"You're a great brother, you know that?"

Adian smiles. "I have my moments."

"And if you tell anyone I said that I'll deny it and punch you in the face."

"I don't doubt you. Now let's get out of here. Nana May," he says, looking over at the older woman.

May gives the twins a small smile and nods her head. "Don't stay out too long. I'll make sure your Papa knows that you're leaving campus for a little while."

"Thanks, Nana May," Ava says.

"It's no problem, sweetheart. Go be together and start healing."

Adian and Ava both give her a smile before making their way down the rest of the hallway and out the front doors.

"I just thought of something," Adian speaks up.

"What?"

"How are we getting off campus to go into town? Neither of us have a car here."

"There's school sanctioned vehicles in the garage."

"We don't have access to the garage yet," he reminds his sister.

"Maybe so. But I think I can work my way around the system."

"Pretty sure they keep all the keys in a locked box that not just anyone can access."

"Stop trying to ruin all my fun."

"Sorry. Just trying to keep you from committing a crime."

Ava scoffs. "Please. We both know you'd tag right along so I wouldn't be arrested alone."

Adian opens his mouth to deny the claim but just sighs and looks down. "Yeah, you're right, I probably would."

"And now's the perfect time to test that theory," she says, grinning when she sees the Academy's garage coming into view, picking up her pace.

Adian sighs again and shakes his head, quickly following behind his sister, hiking their bags up higher on his shoulder. He really hopes he doesn't regret going along with this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
> 
> Until next time,  
> Jellybean96 out!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just some more downtime between the cadets, and another confrontation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for ya! This one feels like a filler chapter in certain ways, but it's not really. 
> 
> Enjoy!

"Hey, did you hear about mom and dad?" Adian asks his twin sister as he sits down at the lunch table, setting his tray in front of him and his bag on the floor at his feet. He kicks it under his chair just a bit as he shifts on the seat to get more comfortable.

Ava shakes her head, swallowing the food in her mouth. "No, what happened? Are they okay?"

"They're fine, it's nothing bad," he assures her. "Just that apparently one of them is getting some kind of promotion pretty soon."

Ava's brows furrow. "Really? What kind of promotion could they even be getting? They're already pretty high up in the ranks and they even helped rebuild SHIELD."

Adian shrugs. "I don't know. That's all I was told."

"Who told you?"

"Nana May."

"When?"

"This morning when she called me before class."

Ava frowns. "Why didn't she call me too? Why'd I have to find out from you?"

"Maybe because you never answer your phone when people call you," Adian retorts.

"I never hear it go off. I really don't know what it is either; I could have it on the highest volume and somehow I don't hear it ringing or feel it vibrating."

"Well you need to sort that out, then," Adian tells his sister.

"Sort what out?" Lacey asks as she joins the twins. "What are we talking about?" She sets her things down and sits next to Ava, scooting her chair closer to the table.

"Ava having the inability to answer her phone."

"Oh I hate that."

"Hate what?"

"When Ava doesn't answer her phone," Lacey says to the boy approaching.

Tyler groans as he sits. "That's the worst." He drops his bag on the floor and looks over at the brunette. "How am I supposed to woo you if you won't answer your phone?"

Ava rolls her eyes. "You see me all the time, Ty."

He nods. "True. But wooing a woman takes every form of communication that there is."

"Does that mean I can expect to get some fancy hand-written letters declaring your undying love for me?" she jokes.

Tyler grins. "Well you can now."

Ava laughs quietly at Tyler, shaking her head at his consistent need to try and win her over.

"You're going to fall for me, my little flower," Tyler says with a small smile, leaning toward Ava. "Just you wait and see."

Her brows furrow. "Little flower?"

He nods. "Yeah. It's my nickname for you. One that's solely for my use because you know you love me. You're impressed, right? Tell me you're impressed."

"I'm impressed," Ava says, figuring it best to appease him a little in that moment. He'd be worse if she said she wasn't impressed.

Tyler laughs quietly. "I knew you'd like it." He looks over at Adian. "Told you she'd like it, man."

Adian nods. "Yes you did."

Ava leans toward her brother and whispers, "He knows I'm not actually interested in him, right?"

"I think so," Adian whispers back, "but I'm not entirely sure."

"Think I should tell him?"

"Probably best to let him live in his little fantasy world for right now. I'll break it to him gently later."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"Hey, what are you two talking about over there?" Lacey asks.

"Just twin stuff," Ava tells her friend.

"What kind of twin stuff could you possibly be talking about?"

"Well if we told you then it wouldn't be twin stuff, now would it?"

"You guys are so weird."

Ava shrugs. "Not the first time we heard that, probably won't be the last. Pretty sure kids in school were jealous that we were twins. And no, Tyler, before you stupidly ask, we never tried to switch places with each other."

"I wasn't going to ask that," Tyler defends himself. Ava raises an eyebrow at him. He sighs. "Okay, so maybe I was. But do you think it would have worked at any point?"

"No, it wouldn't have worked," Adian tells his roommate. "For one very big reason. Ava and I are different genders."

Tyler waves him off. "Oh, besides that. When you were little, before it was blatantly obvious that you weren't the same gender, do you think it would have worked?"

Ava sighs. "I don't know. And I've never thought about it either. But my gut is telling me that it wouldn't have worked at all."

"What wouldn't have worked?"

Ava turns her head and smiles kindly when she sees the older boy approaching. "Brian, hi."

"Hi. Sorry for interrupting, I just wanted to come over and say hi and got a little curious about your conversation."

"It's fine," she tells him. "We were just talking about Adian and I being twins and trying to convince Tyler that it never would have worked with the two of us trying to switch places."

Brian nods. "Ah, yeah. I could see where you'd have a problem there."

Ava laughs quietly. "Yeah."

Things are silent for a bit between the two as they continue to stare at each other, Ava shifting a little in her seat before tucking a loose piece of hair back behind her ear.

"Hey, Brian," Lacey speaks up with a sly smile, moving to the edge of her seat and resting her forearms on the table. "Wanna join us for lunch? You can sit by Ava."

Ava whirls on her friend with wide eyes. "Lacey!" she hisses. She turns back to Brian and plasters a nervous smile on her face. "You really don't have to if you don't want to," she tells him. "Unless you do want to, in which case you're more than welcome to sit with us and eat. Unless you can't. You probably have a ton of other friends to hang out with."

Brian shrugs. "Not really. Other than my roommate and a couple of other cadets my age I don't hang out with too many people."

"So then you'll stay," Lacey says.

"I'd love to, honestly, but I'm actually working on something for one of my classes and don't really have time to sit. Rain check, though?" he asks, looking at Ava.

"Absolutely," Lacey answers.

He smiles. "Great. I'll see you around, Ava."

"Bye," she says quietly as he walks away from the table. She turns back around and groans, burying her face in her arms atop the table. "I cannot believe that just happened," she mumbles. "I feel like an idiot."

"An idiot who's in love," Adian teases his sister.

Without looking, Ava lifts a fist and punches Adian in the arm.

"Geez, Ava." He recoils and rubs at his arm. "What the hell?"

"It's what you get," she responds.

"For what?"

"For being annoying."

"Well then shouldn't you be hitting Tyler?"

"Whoa, dude, don't go bringing me into the middle of your sibling squabble. I'm perfectly fine over here out of harm's way." He smiles at Ava and leans toward her. "Though, I'm sure I could handle it if it was done in a very loving manner."

Ava leans closer to him and lowers her voice as she speaks, "You'd never be able to handle all this." She moves away from him and focuses her attention back on her food.

Tyler just stares at her with an open mouth. He closes his mouth and swallows thickly, looking at Adian and Lacey. "You both just saw that, right?"

"I saw her shut you down," Adian replies. "Completely."

"For now," Tyler insists. "But one day, Ava Rose Ward, one day you're going to want me."

* * *

 

Closing the door of the locker he'd been using, Adian swings his gym bag up onto his shoulder and pulls his cell phone out of his pocket to check for any new messages. Finding none, he slides it back into his pocket and looks over his shoulder. "You ready to go, man?"

"Yeah, just a minute," Tyler responds, pulling on his jeans and buttoning them up. He closes his locker and picks up his own gym bag, turning to Adian and letting out a breath. "Alright, I'm ready."

"Good. We're supposed to be meeting Ava and Lacey for the next group lecture."

"Why do we have to have so many lectures?" Tyler asks as the two boys exit the locker room and begin making their way down the hall. "I mean, I'm here to become an Operations agent, not sit in a room and listen to people drone on and on about stuff I don't really care about."

"We go to lectures because if you don't know the history of the organization you want to work for, then you really shouldn't be here. And there's a lot of other stuff that's important to know that you can't get from beating up training dummies."

Tyler nods after a moment. "Yeah, okay, so maybe you have a point there. But I'd still rather punch people out than sit in a lecture hall for an hour."

"I think today's lecture is an hour and a half."

Tyler groans. "Seriously?"

Adian nods. "Yep. And then as soon as we're done, you can come back here and work on your takedowns."

"I almost had him," Tyler remarks back at his roommate.

"No you didn't," Adian responds. "You were not even close enough to knocking him down."

"But I could have been," Tyler insists. "Today was just an off day for me."

"Sure it was, man," Adian says with a chuckle.

"It was."

"Ward!"

Adian turns his head and sighs when he sees the other cadet approaching him. He turns around fully and adjusts his gym bag on his shoulder. "What do you want now, Cafrey?"

Dylan strolls up to him, a slight swagger in his steps, and stops directly in front of him. He crosses his arms in front of his chest. "Word going around campus is that one of your parents is getting a promotion within SHIELD."

"I know just as much as you do about that," Adian tells him. "Just that one of them is getting a big promotion even though they're already pretty high up in the ranks. I don't know which one of them is getting it or what the promotion is or when it's actually happening, if it's even happening at all."

"See, I think you're not being completely honest with me, Ward. I think you do know."

"I don't."

"Don't lie to me, Ward."

"I'm not lying," Adian says through gritted teeth. "I don't know anything about it. Just because I've grown up within the organization, it doesn't mean I know every single thing that goes on around here. There are plenty of things that my sister and I don't know or aren't allowed to know."

"And I don't believe you for a second."

"That's fine. I don't care if you don't believe me. But it's the truth. Nothing you say is going to change that."

Dylan scoffs. "Yeah, whatever. You may think you've got a pretty sweet setup here, with your parents being SHIELD legends and your grandparents being the Director and Deputy Director, but I don't see any of them here to protect you."

"They don't need to protect me," Adian says back. "I can take care of myself just fine."

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah, I am."

Dylan laughs darkly. "Well, we'll just have to see about that at some point, huh?" He chuckles and then walks past Adian, bumping him in the shoulder as he goes.

"Man, I seriously hate that kid," Tyler remarks, glaring after Dylan's retreating form. "Seriously, what is his issue with you?"

"Dude, if I knew what it was, you'd be the first one I told." He turns and continues walking toward the front doors of the building to go outside and head toward the lecture hall.

Tyler follows after him, quickly catching up. "Nice sentiment there, Adian, but I'm pretty sure you'd tell your sister first. We all know you two have this weird bond going on between you."

"It's because we're twins," Adian tells his friend, pushing open the doors and stepping into the cool breeze. "Mom and dad said that when we were babies we had to sleep in the same crib for the first few months or we'd cry all night."

"That's so weird."

Adian shrugs. "Not for us."

"Yeah, well, it's weird for everyone else."

"Well that's too bad for everyone else, then. They're all just going to have to learn how to deal with it."

"Or you two could stop being so twin-y all the time."

Adian quirks a brow. "Dude, seriously? That's never going to happen. Not in this or any life time."

Tyler sighs. "Yeah, I kinda figured that part out on my own. I should probably just drop the subject now, shouldn't I?"

Adian laughs quietly and nods his head. "Yeah, man, you really should."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
> 
> Until next time,  
> Jellybean96 out!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little more insight into the twin's life growing up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter! Sorry for the wait, I've been having some issues with Word, and I've been working a lot, so I've had to find other ways of editing chapters.
> 
> But I've got a new chapter for ya here. This one gives you some more insight into the twins' life growing up.
> 
> Enjoy!

"Cadet Ward."

Looking up from her open history textbook in front of her, Ava gives a polite smile to the familiar Agent standing next to her. She doesn't know her super well, but has definitely seen her a few times while growing up. She's one of the more friendly agents.

"Agent Mason, hi. What brings you by?"

"It's about your roommate," Agent Mason tells the young cadet.

Ava's brows furrow together in confusion. "Lacey? What about her?"

"She was found unconscious on the floor of the study hall earlier today."

Her eyes go wide at the new information. "What?"

"Another cadet found her and she was taken straight to the infirmary," Agent Mason continues to explain. "She had a full check up and is still in there now if you'd like to go and visit her."

Ava nods. "Yeah, of course. Thank you so much for telling me."

"Of course." Agent Mason gives her a curt nod before turning and walking out of the cafeteria.

Closing her textbook, Ava shoves it into her bag, standing from her chair and swinging the bag up onto her shoulder. She turns and makes her way out of the room, completely ignoring her empty food tray. She quickly navigates through the many halls, and then across campus, heading in the direction of the infirmary.

Stepping through the front doors of the infirmary, she heads straight for the reception desk, leaning up against it with her palms flat against the top. "Hi, I'm looking for Cadet Parker's room, I'm her roommate."

"Room three," the woman tells her.

"Thank you." She pushes off the counter, turns around and walks down the hallway, immediately finding room three.

She nudges the door open and steps inside, letting out a relieved breath of air when she sees her roommate sitting up in the bed, a few wires attached to her body and tubes sticking in her arms.

"Lacey. Oh my goodness. Please tell me you're okay," Ava says with concern lacing her voice as she enters the hospital room.

"I'm fine," Lacey assures her roommate, fiddling with some of the wires. "Just got a little light headed and passed out, that's it. Absolutely nothing to worry about."

"On the contrary, actually," a blonde man speaks up as he enters the room, a white doctor's coat on his body and a clipboard in his hands. "Your friend has suffered from extremely low blood sugar which is why she passed out," he tells Ava.

Ava's head whips toward her friend, "Lacey, were you skipping meals?"

"Only a few," Lacey admits meekly with a small shrug. "I had to finish up that big project for class and I needed every minute I could to do it. It has to be perfect."

"And you'll have plenty of time to work on it," the doctor tells her. "After you've gotten some rest and eaten something substantial. I'll make sure your instructor knows that you need a little extra time due to medical reasons, and I'll be checking back in with you periodically to make sure that you're doing well."

"Thank you," Ava says to him.

He gives a slight nod and then makes his way out of the room after checking on Lacey's vitals, closing the door tightly behind him.

"I can't believe you seriously did this to yourself," Ava says to her friend, falling down into the chair next to the bed, letting her bag drop to the floor. "We're not even halfway through our first year and you've already overworked yourself."

"I'm sorry, Ava, I really am. I swear it wasn't on purpose. But at least I had a cute doctor," she says with a wink.

Ava's brows furrow. "You mean Lincoln?" Her face scrunches up. "Gross."

Lacey's eyes go wide. "Wait. You know him?"

Ava shrugs. "Kind of. I've been around him a few times growing up and he's kind of like an uncle to me because I've known him practically forever, but also not as much of an uncle as my Uncle Fitz or Uncle Mack, and I don't call him Uncle Lincoln, either. My dad isn't exactly Lincoln's biggest fan because I guess he used to have a thing for my mom. But of course she was still hung up on dad after SHIELD fell, even if she wouldn't admit it at first, and then they worked things out and got together before she could even  _think_ about being with Lincoln. So it's usually kind of awkward whenever he's around."

Lacey blinks. "Wow. You really do know everybody in SHIELD."

"It's a blessing and a curse."

"How so?"

"Well, whenever Adian and I got in trouble growing up, which was quite often because there's two of us, most of the agents had no problem disciplining us because they're practically family."

"Wow. That sounds like it sucked."

"It kinda did. And let me tell you, being disciplined by SHIELD Agents was no picnic. They came up with the most unusual punishments for us, but we definitely learned our lesson. For a little while, anyway. I think we were about halfway through high school when we finally stopped causing trouble. At least, trouble that got us caught." She laughs quietly.

Lacey laughs with her. "What about the flip side?"

"We had a whole army of agents willing to fight anyone who threatened me or Adian growing up."

"That must have been intense."

"But also made for many a good time. Let me tell you, first time I got my heart broken, granted I was only in middle school, but still, I was crushed."

"What happened?"

"My dad, my Papa Phil, Uncle Trip, Uncle Mack, Charlie, and a few psychically changed Inhumans my parents worked with happened. Auntie Tasha would have been there but she was off on a mission. But they all went to this kids' house and completely traumatized him. I was watching from the car and I'm pretty sure he peed himself."

Lacey throws her head back in laughter. "Oh my goodness. That sounds amazing. I would have loved to have seen that."

"Yeah. It was pretty awesome. Not so awesome when Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, and Falcon show up to threaten your prom date before the dance and he's terrified about dancing with you because they threatened to cut his hands off it they roamed anywhere they weren't supposed to."

"Wow. That must have sucked."

Ava shrugs. "Eh. He managed to get over it pretty quickly when I pulled him into a dark corner and we made out most of the night."

Lacey's eyes go wide. "You did?"

Ava nods. "Yeah. But I made him promise not to tell anyone because if my parents or any of the Avengers had found out, I would have been locked in my room and my date probably would have been castrated."

"Did they ever find out?" Lacey asks.

Ava shakes her head. "Nope. And I'm taking that secret with me to the grave."

"Good plan," Lacey says with a small laugh. "And hey, you know you don't have to stay here the whole time I'm recovering, right? You can go back to the room or whatever. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

Lacey nods. "Yes. Now go."

Ava sighs. "Alright. I'll see you later." She stands from her chair and gives Lacey a smile and affectionate squeeze of the hand before walking past the bed and exiting the room.

.

.

.

Approaching her dorm room, Ava pulls her cell phone out of her back pocket and unlocks it, opening her messages. She clicks on one of the conversations near the top, between her and her brother, and then taps inside the text box.

_Lacey overworked herself. Passed out in the study hall. She's fine now. Lincoln helped her._

A few seconds later she gets a response.

**She's really alright?**

_Yes, she's fine._

**And Lincoln? Really?**

_I know. Threw me for a minute too._

**I'll bet.**  
Gotta go now. Training. Talk soon?  


_Obviously._

Tucking the phone back into her pocket, she inserts her key into the lock of her door, twisting it and then pushing on the door so it swings open.

She steps inside her room, tossing her bag onto her desk chair and grabbing her tablet off the desk.

Flopping down onto her bed on her stomach, she props her tablet up in front of her on the mattress and unlocks it, immediately opening up FaceTime and finding her mom's name.

She taps on the button for a video call and then tilts her head as she waits somewhat patiently for her mother to answer the call request.

A few seconds later the call connects, her mother's smiling face filling up the screen.

_"Ava, this is a pleasant surprise."_

"Hi, mom," Ava says with a smile.

_"Hi, sweetheart. What's with the video call? Not that I'm not happy to see you. Just curious."_

Ava shrugs. "I just felt like calling."

_"Alright. Well how's life at the Academy going now that you're about a quarter of the way through your first year there?"_

Ava shrugs again, looking down and picking at the fabric of her blanket. "It's okay. Guess who I saw today?" she asks, looking back up at her mom.

_"Who?"_

"Lincoln."

_Skye's brows furrow for a brief second before relaxing. "Huh. I forgot that he's a doctor there sometimes."_

"So did I. I saw him at the infirmary and he acted like he didn't even recognize me. It was kinda weird."

_Skye sits up straighter. "Why were you at the infirmary? Nobody called me or your dad."_

"Relax, mom, It wasn't me. Or Adian. It was Lacey. She was working herself too hard over this one project and was skipping meals so she could finish it. She passed out and was taken to the infirmary. She's fine now, though."

_"Well that's good to hear. And did Lincoln really act like he didn't recognize you?"_

"That's the feeling I got." She shifts on the bed. "I mean, it's not like I'm all the broken up about it since I don't really know him that well. And I can't really blame him either. Seeing me and Adian is probably a constant, horrible reminder to him that, as much as the thought grosses me out, dad is the one who got into your pants instead of him."

_"Ava Rose Ward,"_ _Skye says sternly in shock at what her daughter just said._

Ava shrugs. "What? You know it's the truth, mom. Thinking back on the whole thing, you have to realize that he wanted to be with you in the biblical sense of the word, but dad swooped back in and reclaimed the hold he had on your heart. But you didn't notice it at the time because you were still hung up on dad and didn't care about what any other guy thought about you."

_Skye sighs. "Sometimes I really hate how insightful you are."_

Ava grins. "You know you actually love it."

_"I tolerate it most of the time because I gave birth to you so it's essentially my fault."_

Ava laughs quietly. "I really miss you and dad," she says.

_"Didn't I just see you on campus not too long ago?"_

Ava nods. "Yeah. But it's not really the same. I'm sure we'll get used to it eventually, but it's still a little weird not seeing you and dad everyday."

_"And it's just as weird for me and your father to not see you every morning and afternoon. But we'll all get through it. Pretty soon it'll be Christmas break and you'll get to come home."_

Ava smiles. "You're right. I can't wait until Christmas."

_"Neither can I, Ava-loo." She takes a deep breath. "Now, I have to go because your father and I have to be somewhere soon, but I'll talk to you later, okay?"_

Ava nods. "Yeah, okay."

_"I love you, Ava-loo. So much."_

"I love you too, mom."

_"What about me? Do I get any love from my favorite daughter?"_

Ava smiles when she sees her dad leaning down into the screen, right over her mother's shoulder with a smile on his face. "Hi, daddy."

_"Hey, baby girl. How are you?"_

"Good. How are you?"

_"I am doing very well, thank you for asking."_

"Anytime." She furrows her brows and tilts her head. "Um, could you maybe put on a shirt, dad? That's not really something I want to see."

_Grant glances down at his bare chest before looking back up at his daughter. "Sorry. I just got out of the shower and saw your mom on video chat with you. Didn't think to put a shirt on first."_

_Skye looks up at her husband, one hand casually coming up to rest on his chest. "There's still hot water left, right? I'm still all gross and sweaty."_

Ava's face scrunches up in disgust at the implication. "Oh gross. Seriously, you guys? You've just scarred me for life. Do you understand that? You've scarred me. I'll never be able to look at you two the same way again. Ever."

_Skye looks at her daughter again and rolls her eyes, adjusting the front of her robe. "Oh, relax, Ava. Stop being so dramatic. We were just sparring. Before."_

"Seriously, mom? What's wrong with you? I'm going to go now before you two do something that'll make me need to bleach my brain."

_"We love you, sweetheart," Grant says to her, an amused smile on his face._

"I love you too. Bye."

_"Bye."_

Tapping the red end button, Ava lets her tablet fall to her bed as she closes her eyes and drops her head onto her arms.

Rolling onto her side, she takes a deep breath and then sits up, moving over to her desk and opening up her laptop, instantly pulling up her latest class assignment to continue her work on it, anything to get certain disgusting thoughts out of her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
> 
> Until next time,  
> Jellybean96 out!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is Adian ever going to catch a break?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for ya! This one's a pretty good one, I think. :)
> 
> Enjoy!

Hitting the bag in front of him with his glove covered fists, Adian moves lightly on his feet, just the way he'd been shown as he was growing up, imagining he's face to face with a real opponent. When he's out in the field, his enemy isn't going to hold anything back, so that's the way he trains, giving everything that he has into each and every move he makes. He has to be ready for anything or anyone that comes at him.

A slow clap coming from behind him has him stopping and steadying the swaying bag. He's breathing heavily with sweat beading on his forehead.

"Well done, Cadet Ward, you're almost as good as the rest of us. Keep working and maybe you'll be halfway there by the end of the year. Or you'll completely wash out. Between you and me, I'd much prefer the second option."

Adian remains silent, closing his eyes as he leans his forehead against the punching bag, doing his best to keep his cool.

"Aww, don't be like that, Adian. I'm sure one day you'll be as good as your parents. Or maybe you won't. What do you think they're going to do when you and that sister of yours wash out? Think they'll be disappointed and shut you out? That'd be priceless."

Quickly removing his boxing gloves, Adian throws them down and whirls around to face the other Cadet. "Seriously, man, what the hell is your problem with me?" he shouts at Dylan, his jaw hard and his eyes glazing over with anger. "Since the day we got here I have done everything that was asked of me without any questions or problems.  _You're_ the one who came up to me that first day and started talking trash about me and my family. I don't get what I ever did to you for you to come after me."

"It's nothing you did," Dylan spits at him. "It's what your parents did. But I'm not actually stupid enough to go after them. So you were the next best option."

"Maybe you'd care to enlighten me as to why you're after my parents in the first place," Adian responds. "Because I seem to be a little out of the loop here."

"Your parents are the reason my father went to prison."

"Well maybe he deserved it," Adian says simply.

"You better watch your mouth, Ward," Dylan tells him, taking a small step forward. "A mouth like that could get you into some real trouble."

"My parents wouldn't just lock up an innocent man," Adian continues, ignoring Dylan's threats. "If they locked him away, then they had a perfectly good reason for doing it."

"Do you always believe in your parents so blindly?" Dylan questions.

"I'm not blind," Adian protests. "I know all I need to know about my parents and their past."

"Do you know that your dad is a traitor to SHIELD?"

Adian shakes his head. "He was pardoned of that; the whole thing wasn't that simple and they all worked through it in the end, got past it. He even helped rebuild this place from the ground up. He's one of this organization's top agents and I won't stand here and listen to you try to diminish that."

"He's a criminal," Dylan sneers.

Adian's heart rate picks up, as does his breathing, his hands clenching into fists down by his side. "No. A criminal is what  _your_ father is.  _My_ father is a hero. People all around the world look up to him."

"People that don't know what he truly is. Or what your mother really is."

"Don't you  _dare_  talk about my mother," he says through his heavy breathing and gritted teeth.

"Why not?" Dylan asks, taking another step forward. "She's no better than your father. She claims to be loyal to SHIELD, but really, she's just a pathetic little slut who whored herself out to a known Hydra operative."

Adian's fists clench tighter, his teeth grinding together as his jaw grows harder, and then all he's seeing is red.

* * *

"Cadet Ward."

Ava looks up from her computer to see a very familiar, friendly face standing in the doorway of her classroom. She nods at him once, just as she would if it were any other agent coming to talk to her, forcing herself not to jump up immediately and give him a big bear hug like she always did growing up.

"Agent Triplett."

"May I have a word with you in private, please?"

"Of course." She stands from her seat and follows the agent out into the empty hallway just outside the classroom.

"What's up, Uncle Trip?" Ava asks the older agent, a small smile crossing over her lips.

"Something's going on with your brother, Ava," Trip tells her, no beating around the bush in the slightest.

Ava's heart rate picks up and her breath catches in her throat. "What happened to Adian?"

"Based on what other cadets are saying, we believe he was being harassed by Cadet Cafrey."

Ava's eyes narrow. "Dylan," she mutters under her breath. "That kid just won't leave him alone."

"I can't get in touch with either of your parents."

"They're on a mission, probably went dark," she tells him. "What's going on with my brother?"

The older agent sighs. "We were able to pull him off the other cadet, but unfortunately your brother still seems to be in some sort of state. He's not listening to anybody and he takes a swing at anyone who even tries to get near him. We'd rather not use brute force if we can avoid it."

"You mean tranquing him," Ava states.

Trip nods. "Yes. If we can get through to him another way, that'd be preferable."

Ava nods. "Yeah, okay. Where is he?"

"Still in the classroom where some of the cadets were training in their down time. We haven't been able to get him to leave."

"Let me talk to him."

"Ava, I really don't think that's-"

"Uncle Trip, I love you, and I respect you completely as an agent, but I know my brother. He won't hurt me. I can get through to him if you just take me to where he is. Please."

Trip hesitates a moment before nodding. "Alright, follow me." He turns and makes his way away from the classroom, Ava quickly following behind him.

.

.

.

Stepping inside one of Operations training gyms, Ava's breath catches and her heart rate clenches at the sight of her brother. He's off in one corner of the room by himself, breathing heavily with sweat covering his face. His hands are clenched into fists and he has a scowl on his face as his dark eyes dart from person to person, silently warning them off.

"Adian?" Ava speaks up softly, slowly approaching her brother. His eyes dart over to her and soften just a hair when he sees her. "Adian, it's me. It's Ava."

"Ava?" the boy speaks in a quiet voice.

She nods. "Yeah, it's me." She looks at the others around her. "You guys all need to take really big steps back, give him some space." She focuses her attention back on her brother. "Adian, you need to relax, okay? Take deep breaths and focus, okay? Just focus on me, Adian. Focus on me and my voice and everything will be okay."

She watches as Adian's face slowly starts to soften, his eyes closing as he takes deep breathes in. His fists unclench and she can see faint indentations in his palms from his fingernails.

She takes another small step forward. "Adian."

Adian's eyes open and he looks up at her with so many different emotions running through him, too fast for her to discern any of them clearly enough. "I lost control," he whispers quietly. "I tried to contain myself, but I just...I lost it."

Ava nods. "I know, Adian, I know. You did your best, though, right?"

He nods. "Yeah. But it wasn't good enough."

"It's okay. Uncle Trip's gonna take you to get your hands and your face looked at, okay? I think Dylan managed to get a few good punches in." She gently touches one of the bruises starting to form on his cheek. "At least it makes you look halfway decent now, though."

Adian cracks a small smile.

Ava smiles back. "Come on, big brother, let's go." She drapes an arm over his shoulder and leads him out of the classroom, Trip following closely behind them.

* * *

"Adian."

Looking up from the floor, Adian sits up a little straighter in his seat when he sees his Uncle walking toward him.

"What's going on?" Ava speaks up immediately from her place beside her brother. "What did they decide to do? Is Adian getting in trouble? Because I can promise you that it was that jerk Dylan started everything and set Adian off. He wouldn't just attack someone without cause to do so and if they're just going to-"

"Ava!" Adian shouts at his sister, interrupting her rant. "Chill for a minute."

She gives a sheepish smile. "Sorry."

"It's alright," Trip says to her. "But if I could speak to Adian alone for a minute, that'd be great."

"Uncle Trip, I appreciate wanting to do that whole 'confidential' type of thing, it's actually kind of cute, but we all know that Adian's going to tell me what's going on anyways, so you might as well just say it right now."

"Ava," Adian says softly, resting a hand on his sister's shoulder. "Just go, okay? I'll come find you later."

Ava huffs. "Fine. But I don't like this," she says with narrowed eyes at her brother and uncle before standing from her seat and marching out of the room.

Adian lets out a breath and turns in his seat. "So, what's the verdict?" he asks his Uncle, looking up at him. "Am I being kicked out for pounding on Dylan even though he completely deserved it?"

Trip sighs. "As your Uncle, I'm very proud of you for defending your family, even if you did resort to violence to do so. But as your superior, I can't condone it."

Adian sighs. "Yeah, I kind of figured that." He looks down and messes with the cloth wrapped around his injured hands.

"Fortunately, you won't be getting expelled from the Academy, which I'm sure your parents will be happy to hear."

"Do you have to tell them?" he asks, lifting his head just enough to look at his uncle. "They don't really need to know that I got into a fight, do they?"

"I'm afraid that they do, Adian," Trip tells him.

The teenage boy sighs. "Fine. But can I be the one who tells them about it?"

Trip thinks for a moment. "That should be fine. Once we're done here you can go call them." He takes a deep breath. "Now, while you're not being expelled from the Academy, you are being put on probation. If something like this happens again, the consequences will be very severe for you."

"Keep Dylan away from me and everything should be fine," he says with tight lips. "I can't stand that kid and he can't stand me either. It's better if we're never in any of the same classes for the rest of the time we're here."

"I don't know how well that'll work, but I'll see what I can do."

"Sure you won't be accused of nepotism because you're my uncle, even though it's not by blood?"

"Even if I do, the priority is the safety of all the cadets here. If that means taking extra measures to make sure you and that other cadet cross paths the least amount of times as possible, I'll do what I can."

Adian nods. "Thank you, Uncle Trip. I know it might cause some problems for you within the organization, but I really appreciate it."

"Just try not to let your temper get the best of you again, okay? You're a good kid, Adian, and you'll be just as great of an agent as your parents if you can keep yourself under control."

"I promise I'll try. Dylan's the only one that I have a areal problem with. He hates mom and dad for putting his dad in prison and is taking it out on me. He doesn't even know my family but assumes that we're all horrible people because of a decision dad made when he was a teenager."

"So prove him wrong," Trip tells him. "Just ignore what he says and be the better person."

"Thanks, Uncle Trip."

Trip smiles at him. "Anytime, kid."

* * *

"It's been over two hours since you talked with Uncle Trip, why the hell haven't you come to find me yet?"

Adian glances up from his phone to see Ava bursting through his dorm room door, slamming it closed behind her and standing in front of him with her hands on her hips and an eyebrow raised.

"Hey, Ava."

"Don't you 'hey, Ava' me," she snaps. "What did Uncle Trip say? What's going on?"

Adian sighs. "Well I'm not being kicked out."

Ava grins. "That's excellent."

"But I'm on probation," he continues. "If I get into another fight there's going to be severe consequences."

Ava's smile falls. "Well that sucks. You didn't even start this fight. I mean, yeah, you may have thrown the first punch but Dylan's the one who egged you on."

Adian shakes his head. "Doesn't matter. If I get into another fight I'm probably gone. And I can't get kicked out, Ava. This is all I've wanted since as long as I can remember."

"All  _we've_ wanted," Ava corrects him, moving to sit down next to him on the bed. "We're in this together, Adian. And if you get kicked out, I'll leave. I honestly can't imagine doing any of this without you."

"I'm not going to let you drop out if I get sacked, Ava," he tells her, shaking his head. "Not happening. You're going to go on and become a really great agent and help save the world, just like mom and dad."

"Can you stop making it seem like you've already been sacked? Please? It's really not helping."

"Sorry."

"It's fine." She takes a deep breath and scoots back on Adian's bed, leaning against the wall. "So, what's the next step for you?" she asks him.

"Calling mom and dad," he says, letting out a sigh and waving his phone a little.

"Ooh, can I be here while you do? It's gonna be so funny to hear their reactions to you getting into a fight."

"Ava."

She shrugs. "What? It's not my fault there isn't much around here that can be considered entertainment because everyone is so crazy focused on becoming an agent. I promise I won't say anything. I just want to listen, so put it on speaker."

Adian sighs. "There's no way I'm getting you to leave, is there?"

Ava shakes her head and smiles. "Not a chance."

"Fine." He turns around and focuses his attention on his phone, unlocking it and going into his contacts. He finds his dad's number and clicks on it, then the speaker button.

It rings twice and then he hears his father's voice come through the phone.  _"Hello?"_

"Dad, hey, it's me."

_"Adian. Hey, bud, what's up?"_

"Um, is mom there?"

 _"Yeah, she's right here, hang on."_ There's some shuffling on the other end of the phone before his dad speaks again.  _"Alright, Adian, you're on speaker."_

_"Adian? Hi, baby."_

Adian smiles at hearing his mom's voice. "Hey, mom. How are you?"

_"Your father and I are fine. What's with the phone call?"_

"Oh, I uh, I just have something I need to tell you and dad."

 _"You didn't get a girl pregnant did you?"_ his mom asks immediately in a panic.  _"Please tell me you didn't. I am way too young to be a grandmother right now."_

Ava lets out a bellowing laugh. "Please. He'd have to actually talk to a girl without looking like an idiot before he could have sex with her."

_"Ava? You're there too?"_

She leans forward. "Hi, mom. Hi, dad."

Adian looks at his sister and glares. "You said you wouldn't talk."

She holds her hands up in defense and leans back. "Shutting up now."

"Thank you." He turns back around and takes a deep breath. "No, mom, I didn't get a girl pregnant, I promise."

_"Oh thank goodness. I'm sorry I freaked out like that and just assumed."_

"It's fine, mom. But uh, I called you and dad to tell you both that I got into a fight today."

 _"You what?"_ his mom shouts, causing Adian to wince.

 _"Adian, you know better than that,"_ his father tells him.

"It wasn't his fault," Ava pipes in. "Everybody else in the room said it was the other guys' fault for egging him on."

Adian glares at Ava again. "I may not have started the fight essentially," he tells his parents, "but I threw the first punch. Uncle Trip said the Academy isn't going to kick me out, but I'm on probation for a while. If I get into another fight during my probation, then I'm out of the Academy. Most likely."

 _"Why did you hit the other boy?"_ his dad asks.

"I don't want to talk about it," he says, shifting in his seat. "Just know that it was for a good reason, but I promise I'll try harder not to get into anymore fights."

 _"You're damn right you will,"_ his mom tells him.  _"This is not okay, Adian. If you were still at home you'd be grounded for a month at least. Maybe more."_

Adian nods. "I know. And I'm really sorry. It won't happen again, and I'll try harder at keeping my temper under control."

Skye sighs.  _"I'm really sorry you have to worry about your temper so much, baby. If that idiot Randolph hadn't stolen the Berserker staff all those years ago, and just told us what was going on, then your father might not have had to touch it and you wouldn't be dealing with this issue. But at least you don't have to worry about making an earthquake or setting something on fire when you get upset."_

Adian chuckles. "Yeah, thank goodness for that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
> 
> Kind of ends abruptly, I know. But I couldn't really think of a better way to end this one.
> 
> Also...now we know why Dylan hates Adian so much.
> 
> Until next time,  
> Jellybean96 out!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey babes! Back with a new chapter for ya!
> 
> Enjoy!

Closing the lid of his laptop, Adian lets out a deep sigh and then stands from his desk to move over to his dresser. He strips off his current t-shirt and tosses it haphazardly into his laundry hamper before digging around inside the drawer of shirts, trying to find one to wear for the day.

"Whoa, what's your issue over there?"

Adian glances over his shoulder at his roommate and then back at the pile of shirts in front of him.

"Nothing. I'm just really hoping I don't have any classes with Dylan today," he says as he pulls a t-shirt on over his head, praying to whatever God is listening that his uncle was able to get through to the overseers of the Academy. He really doesn't think it's too much to ask for to not have to go to classes with the kid who's constantly making his life a living hell. Or as close to hell as he can make it.

"I'm sure you won't," Tyler tells him from across the room, drawing Adian's attention back to him. "Your Uncle made sure that you wouldn't, right?"

"He said that he'd try but he couldn't promise anything. And even if he's only able to get either of us transferred out of just one class, I'll be perfectly find because it's one less class I have to have with him. And the less time I have to spend around him, the better off we'll all be."

"Well I'm truly wishing you all the best, man," Tyler says sincerely. "That guy's a jerk and doesn't deserve to be here."

Adian shrugs. "I'm sure if he got past being such a bully and a jerk then he could be a good agent."

"Maybe. But he definitely won't be as great as we will," he says with a smile. "We're going to be two of the best agents there ever were. No doubt about it. We're totally gonna rock the whole 'saving the world' thing."

"Don't let Ava hear you say all that," Adian tells his roommate. "She's convinced that since we're twins, she and I are going to be two of the best agents out of our graduating class and that we'll work together flawlessly while everyone else is just going to be mediocre."

"Speaking of your sister, do you think she'd say yes if I asked her out?"

Adian laughs quietly at his roommate's constant need to date his sister. "Dude, you've been trying to win her over since the day we got here. And each time she's shot you down. When are you going to give up?"

"Never," Tyler tells him with a cheeky grin. "Though, at this point, it's more about seeing how far I can go with my wooing before she completely snaps and hits me or something."

Adian raises an eyebrow. "You really want to get hit by her?"

Tyler shakes his head. "Not necessarily. But I legitimately want to see how long she'll let me go on with all of this."

"So you're not really interested in her?"

"Maybe I am a little, I'm not completely blind, but I can tell she doesn't exactly want to be with me, which I am perfectly fine with, by the way. And I'm pretty sure we all know that she's interested in being with Brian, even if she can't admit it to herself yet."

"Well I'm glad you've figured it out, man, I really am. Ava and I were concerned that you weren't going to figure it out and that we'd have to let you down easy. Though, I'm sure Ava would have been much more blunt about it."

"That would not surprise me."

"Or me. Seriously man, growing up, Ava never pulled any punches whenever she'd tell me how much of an idiot I was being."

"Yes, I've been on the receiving end of that a few different times over the last few months."

Adian laughs quietly. "Yeah, sorry about that."

Tyler waves him off. "It's all good. I'm taking it to mean that she cares, just doesn't know how to show it properly."

Adian snorts. "Yeah, sure. If that's what helps you sleep at night." He holds a hand up. "And please, do not respond to that in any way. She's my sister." He drops his hand and turns back to his dresser.

Tyler holds his hands up defense. "Whoa, relax, man. I wasn't going to say anything. Out loud."

"Dude!"

* * *

Making her way through the cafeteria, clutching her tray of food in her hand with a smile on her face, Ava glances around the room, her eyes searching for a few familiar faces.

Once she finds the faces she's looking for, she steps forward and makes her way toward one of the many tables in the room where she sees her brother, her roommate, and her brothers' roommate sitting, eating, and talking.

"Good news," the brunette says as she approaches the table in the cafeteria, setting her tray down as she sits in one of the chairs, letting her bag fall to the floor.

Tyler smiles and leans a bit closer to her. "You'll go out with me?"

"Still no," she replies quickly, making Tyler frown and Adian and Lacey laugh. She looks at her brother and smiles proudly at him. "You no longer have to worry about Dylan bother you. At least, in any of your classes. Outside of class, he probably will."

Adian furrows his brows. "How do you know that?"

Ava looks at him confused. "Um, because he's always harassing you."

He shakes his head. "No, I meant about him not being in my classes. How do you know that?"

She shrugs. "Because I hacked into the Academy's computer system and looked to see if they actually did what you asked Uncle Trip to ask them to do. Which they totally did, by the way."

"Wait, you actually hacked into their system?" Tyler asks with wide eyes.

Ava shrugs again. "Yeah, it wasn't too difficult. But I'm pretty sure somebody told my mom that the system got hacked because when I went back to see about something else, I wasn't able to get in. It's like she knew that it was me and covered all the areas she'd think that I'd look. I hate sometimes that she's better than me with computers."

"No you don't," Adian responds quickly.

"You're right, I don't. But it does bug me sometimes that she knows computers better than I do and always blocks me out of the systems."

"You know she does it for your own good, Ava. Partially to make you better at what you do, and partially to make sure you don't screw up somehow and get tossed out of the Academy before you can graduate."

"There's no way anyone could figure out that it's me getting into the system," she says.

"Mom can."

Ava rolls her eyes. "I meant besides mom. Obviously I know that she would be able to tell. But none of the other people here are familiar enough with my techniques."

"Don't they teach your mom's techniques at Communications?" Tyler asks.

Ava sighs. "Yes, they do. Most of them, anyways. There are still a few tricks that she doesn't share with anyone."

"So if they teach your mom's techniques, then wouldn't they recognize the techniques and know that it was someone from the Academy?"

Ava frowns. "Can you guys stop ruining my fun? Please? Things were so great when I could imagine for a moment that people didn't know me because of my mother. Not that there's anything wrong with my mom, it'd just be nice sometimes to not be known as the daughter of Quake and Hellfire."

"I know what you mean," Adian says. "Not about the daughter thing, but about being the son of Hellfire and Quake. It can be a little much sometimes."

"Then how come you guys wanted to come here?" Lacey asks. "If there's a part of you that wants to escape your parents' legacy, then why go to a school where they're basically Gods?"

"I think it's because there's a larger part of us that wants to do some good in the world. And since we grew up around this stuff, we know that it's a great way to help people."

"I guess that makes sense."

"Of course it does," Ava says. "We've wanted this for as long as we can remember. Not just because our parents are a part of it, but because we get to help people. And that's all we want to do. That's what we plan to do with the rest of our lives. Or at the very least, the next few years."

"And it's a very solid plan," Adian says to his sister.

She smiles at him and holds her hand up for a high five. "It totally is."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
> 
> This one probably feels like a filler chapter, but sometimes you just gotta do it.
> 
> Until next time,  
> Jellybean96 out!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey babes! Back with a new chapter for ya! This one delves a little bit deeper into Inhumans, but not by a whole lot.
> 
> Also, quick note, this story is almost done. TWO MORE CHAPTERS! Yikes!
> 
> Enjoy!

* * *

"Hey, Ava?"

"Hmm?"

The brunette barely glances up at hearing her name, her eyes completely focused on the section of coding on the laptop screen in front of her. Her fingers fly quickly across the keys.

"Ava," Lacey repeats. "Ava!"

"Huh?" Ava jumps in her seat, startled by Lacey's shout. She shakes her head a little and focuses on her roommate. "Sorry, what?

"What's it like there?"

"Where?" Ava glances back at her computer to make sure she's saved her progress.

"The Inhuman Sanctuary."

Ava's brows furrow and she tilts her head. "Why are you asking? Weren't you at the lecture?"

"Yeah, I was. But I mean, you've been there before, right? Because of your parents. I was just hoping to get some more insight into the Sanctuary before going there tomorrow for volunteering. Also, I might have spaced out a little." She smiles sheepishly.

Ava sighs. "Well, I'm afraid I can't tell you much more than what they said in the lecture. Unless you're actually an Inhuman who's staying there, you don't really have the full experience."

"Did your parents?"

She shifts a little in her seat. "My mom kind of did, but it was at some place in the middle of nowhere in China, I think. But they didn't have the Sanctuary up and running when my dad Transitioned. Mom helped him the best that she could, though, when he did Transition. Lincoln helped too, since he knew a lot about Inhuman biology and was working to become a doctor. He and my Auntie Jemma are the leading doctors on all things Inhuman."

Lacey nods. "Right. And uh, I know they talked about the basics of Transitioning in the lecture, but obviously they couldn't tell us how it actually feels when it happens."

"Afraid I can't help you much there either. Mom and dad don't really like to talk about how it felt when they Transitioned. And I haven't Transitioned so obviously I don't know how it feels."

"Do you want to, though? Transition, I mean."

Ava shifts in her seat again, her brows furrowing together. "Um, maybe? I don't know. I mean, it's part of who I am, in a sense, but there's no guarantee that I wouldn't change on a physical level and look completely different than I do right now. My parents got lucky with only changing on a cellular level. Some people aren't that lucky. Mom said that there was this crazy lady she knew who was determined to go through Terrigenesis, and when she did, she ended up having spikes all over her body."

"Have you ever thought about it, though?"

She shrugs. "Once or twice. When I was younger and saw my parents using their abilities I thought it was really cool and wanted to be just like them. But then I got older and started learning more and more about being an Inhuman and realized that it might not be as great as people think it is."

"Really?"

Ava nods. "Yeah. A lot of people that are Inhuman today, they didn't really have a choice. My parents didn't. If they had their way, nobody would change unless they wanted to. But unfortunately, the world isn't that kind."

"Wow. That sucks."

"It's not all bad, though," Ava tells her friend.

"Yeah?"

"Mm-hmm. While a lot of them may have changed unwillingly, because of the Sanctuary, they have a place to go where they can stay safe and don't have to worry about being ridiculed. It may have been a few years, and a lot of the anti-Inhuman propaganda has died down, but there are still people out there who think they're all dangerous and want them gone."

"That's awful."

Ava shrugs. "That's life. Thankfully, all the Inhumans at the Sanctuary have a really close bond with one another. They're all there for each other, like a giant, eclectic family."

"Well that's good."

"Yeah. Some of the best people I know are Inhumans. My Uncle Mack even married a lady who's Inhuman. My Auntie Elena is one of the strongest, bravest, coolest woman that I know."

"What can she do?"

"She can run really fast." Ava tilts her head. "Actually, I think it's actually that she can only move as far as a single heartbeat will let her, or something like that. And she always comes back to where she started. Kinda like a yo-yo," she says with a small smile, remembering the story told to her about how her Aunt got her nickname."

Lacey blinks. "Wow. That sounds like it would be lame."

"It does. But it's actually really cool. She used to help me pull so many pranks on my brother."

"Do they have any kids?"

"Yeah. Their oldest is just a few months behind me and Adian. She's one of my best friends. Then they have two more kids, another girl and then a boy."

"Is their oldest at the Academy?"

Ava shakes her head. "No. She didn't want to follow her parents and do what they did. But that's okay. I think their son wants to, so maybe there's something there."

Lacey nods. "And you don't have any other siblings besides Adian, right?"

"Right. It's just us." She tilts her head. "I think mom might have wanted another kid at one point, but then she realized she had her hands full with me and Adian so they took measures to prevent getting pregnant again. It's fine, though, I've got plenty of younger cousins who are like siblings, so I'm honestly not bothered by it. Plus, I had a built-in sibling when I was born."

"Well from all the stories you've told me so far, that sounds great."

"Yeah, it's been pretty fun. For the most part. Every once in a while I wonder what it'd be like to not have a twin, but he's always been there, so it's hard to imagine life otherwise." She takes a deep breath. "So, anymore questions about Inhumans or the Sanctuary? Like I said, I probably won't be able to answer them all very well, so choose wisely."

Lacey laughs quietly. "No, I think I'm good for right now. But I'll let you know later if I have anymore questions."

"Okay." She gives her roommate a soft smile before turning back to her laptop and opening the lid again, her mind already running a mile a minute through the different lines of code she's going to try in the program.

* * *

Holding her cell phone up to her ear, Ava leans back against the wall behind her bed and lets out a breath as she waits for the person on the other end to answer. She grabs one of the smaller pillows and holds it in her lap, fiddling with the edge of it.

_"Hello?"_

Ava smiles. "Hi, mom."

_"Ava, sweetheart, so good to hear from you. What's up?"_

"Not a lot. I was just calling to say hi."

_"Well I'm glad you did."_

"Me too."

_"Spit it out, Ava."_

"Spit what out? I'm not even eating anything."

_"Ava, honey, you know what I mean. What do you need to tell me or want to ask me?"_

Ava sighs. "Damn."

_"Language."_

"Sorry. Um, what was it like when you...Transitioned?" She bites her lip between her teeth nervously.

_"Ava..."_

"I know, mom, I know. You and dad don't like talking about any of this."

_"You're right. We don't. Why is why I'm curious as to why you're asking me about it."_

"We're going to the Sanctuary this week, so we had our lecture the other day. But I guess Lacey wasn't paying attention or something and she was asking me all these questions about being Inhuman but I couldn't answer too many of them. At least, not in any way that would have been really helpful."

_"That makes sense."_

"Yeah. But then I realized that even though I've been to the Sanctuary a dozen times over because of you and dad, I don't actually know what it's like to live there. Or what it's like to Transition. And I know you said you don't like talking about it, but I was hoping that maybe you could just tell me a few small things?" She bites her lip between her teeth again as she waits, hoping she didn't just upset her mother in the worst way imaginable.

_"It was one of the worst moments of my life."_

She lets out a breath. "Wow. Really?"

_"Yes. I didn't really know a single thing about Inhumans, let alone that's what we're called. I didn't know what was happening to me and I was absolutely terrified. I could hear your Uncle Trip screaming my name from the other side of the chamber wall. I thought I was going to die, that I'd never get to see your father again and spend my life with him. All of those feelings ran through me in what felt like hours but was really just a matter of seconds."_

Ava swallows thickly. "Do you...do you know if it was like that for dad, too?"

_"I don't. Neither of us have ever really talked about it. But I do know that it actually took him a few hours to break out of his cocoon."_

"It did?"

_"Mm-hmm."_

"I thought it only took a few minutes."

_"The majority of the time, yes. For some, like me, it only takes a few seconds. And for others, like your father, it takes a few hours. It varies from person to person."_

"Oh, wow. I wonder why they didn't talk about that in the lecture."

_"Probably because they don't want to traumatize the young cadets. Even as an adult it can be a pretty scary thing."_

"Right, yeah. That makes sense. I'm sorry that you and daddy had to go through something so traumatic."

_"Thanks, baby. Now, don't you have some schoolwork to do?"_

She shrugs. "I mean, I guess."

_"So then go and do it."_

She sighs. "Fine. I love you, mom."

_"I love you too, sweetheart."_

* * *

"Adian?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you know that it took dad hours to break out of his cocoon when he Transitioned?"

Adian pauses his ministrations on the punching bag in front of him, panting heavily as he stops the bag from swaying. He looks over to where his sister is sitting against one of the walls near him, her knees pulled up and her laptop open in her lap. "What?"

"When dad Transitioned," she repeats. "It took him hours to break out of his cocoon when he Transitioned."

"How do you know that? He and mom never talk about that stuff."

"I called mom earlier."

"How'd you get her to talk about it?"

"I asked."

He quirks a brow. "You asked?"

"Mm-hmm. Lacey was asking me about the Sanctuary, and what it's like there. I told her I couldn't give her a solid answer because I've only ever visited there. So I called mom and asked her."

"And she just told you straight up what it was like?"

"Yeah. I mean, I could tell that it was a little weird for her to talk about it all, but she still told me."

"Wow. I'm surprised that she did."

"So am I. I was honestly expecting her to dodge the question and subtly change the subject to school."

Adian laughs quietly. "She is the master of changing subjects."

"That she is." She shuts the lid of her laptop. "Now, if I'm not really needed here, then I'm going to go back to my room." She stands from the floor and tucks her laptop up under her arm, letting out a breath. "Alright, I'm off."

"Okay. We still on to FaceTime mom and dad together this weekend?"

She nods. "Yep. See you then." She gives him a quick hug, crinkling her nose a bit at the his sweat, before turning around and making her way out of the gym, letting the doors swing shut behind her as she walks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
> 
> Until next time,  
> Jellybean96 out!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things take a turn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for ya! This one's a bit of a game changer, you'll see why in a bit.
> 
> It's about 12:30 in the morning right now, but I wanted to get this up before I went to sleep. So you're welcome.
> 
> Second to last one, here we go!
> 
> Enjoy!

"Remind me again why I'm in here when I could literally be doing anything else?" Ava speaks up from her spot sitting on the ground of the Operation training classroom. "Also I'm in Communications and this is an Operations training class."

"You're here because I want to spar with you," Adian tells his sister as he finishes wrapping his hands. "And I know you don't have any classes right now."

"Isn't that what literally everyone else in here is for?" she asks him, gesturing to the few other cadets in the room.

"Yeah, but I want to spar with you this time," he clarifies. "We've always sparred together growing up."

Ava sighs and stands up from the floor, moving toward her brother. "Fine. Let's spar. Show all these cadets how it's done."

"You're cadets too, Ava," Lacey speaks up.

Ava shrugs. "Yeah. But we've trained with the Avengers. How many other cadets can say that?"

"Not too many from my knowledge."

"Exactly."

"Also, I'd like to know why I'm here," Lacey says. "I don't spar just for the fun of it and I'd much rather be behind my computer."

"Moral support," Ava tells her roommate before turning to face her brother.

Letting a small smile cross over her lips, Ava crouches down ever so slightly as she lifts her fists in front of her face.

Adian stands across from her, a few feet of space between them on the mats and gets into a similar position as his sister.

The twins lock eyes for a moment, a silent conversation passing between them much like their parents do all the time, and then Ava's lunging at her brother, throwing a hand out and barely striking his cheek.

Adian manages to narrowly dodge his sister's fist, using her momentum as he hits her in the back to knock her off balance.

Ava spins around quickly and faces her brother again, already breathing heavy even though they've barely just begun.

"Well would you look at what we have here. Somebody's trying to prove he can be better than mommy and daddy."

The twins frown when they look over to see Dylan sauntering toward them, his usual smirk in place and mischief shining in his eyes.

"What are you doing here, Cafrey?" Ava speaks up, wiping the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. Her eyes are narrowed at the other boy. "You're not in this class."

"And you're not even in this section of the Academy," he bites back. "So why don't you go run on back to Communications and get behind your computer like a good little Cadet, okay?"

"Hey, lay off her, man," another Cadet speaks up from a few feet away. "She didn't do anything to you."

"No, neither of them did anything to me directly. You know why I don't like you though, Ward," he says to Adian. "You know why I don't like any of your family."

"Just leave me alone, man, seriously," Adian says with a sigh. "This is starting to get old. I honestly don't need or want this right now."

"Well I don't care what you want," Dylan sneers. "Because what I want is to see you go down. Like the pathetic little nobody you really are. Nobody wants you at this Academy."

"You're wrong," Ava tells him. "I want him here. And so does Tyler and Lacey. And I'm sure there are a few other cadets here who don't mind Adian being a part of this Academy. So you just need to back off before I make you back off."

Dylan chuckles darkly. "Oh, that's hilarious. Little Communications Cadet thinks she can take me on."

"Maybe you're forgetting who my parents are," she says with a hard glare. "And who I grew up around. Think I can't handle a few rounds? Hit me and let's find out."

"Get out of my face," Dylan tells her, reaching out to shove her shoulder, knocking her off balance, before hitting her in the shoulder again and sending her to the ground.

"Hey!" Adian shouts, moving toward Dylan. "Leave her alone. This is between you and me."

Dylan turns toward him. "You're right, it is." He reels his arm back and then thrusts it forward, his fist connecting with Adian's nose, making the teen stumble on his feet. "So let's get into it, then."

"Stop it!" Ava shouts from her place on the floor, Lacey kneeling at her side.

Adian holds his one hand out toward his sister, the other up by his face, touching his nose and bringing it back down to see droplets of blood on his fingers. He wipes his nose with the back of his hand before curling both hands into tight fists. "You want to fight? Let's fight. I've been holding back a lot of anger and rage, especially toward you; it's just been bottling up inside. So let's see how long you last."

"You're pretty confident there, aren't you?" He smirks, standing up straight and reaching his hand into one of his pockets. "Well let's see how confident you are after this." He quickly pulls his hand out and throws it forward, tossing a short, transparent crystal at Adian's feet.

Everyone in the room jumps back when the crystal hits the ground and breaks apart, a purple mist immediately growing from it.

"Adian!" Ava screams as loud as she can, frozen in place as she watches her brother's face twist into one of panic, his eyes darting around as a dark, rock-like substance begins to crawl up his body, starting at his feet.

"Ava," Adian manages to get out in a raspy voice. He looks down as the substance reaches his waist and then back up at his sister. "W-what's happening to me?"

"You're Transitioning," Ava tells him, slowly standing up from her spot. "Just like mom and dad did. You're gonna be okay, Adian. You're gonna be okay."

"B-but I don't-" his words are cut off as the substance covers his mouth, his nose, his eyes, and then the top of his head.

The last thing Ava sees is the sheer panic and fear shining in her brother's eyes.

Instantly she whirls around to face the culprit, her eyes narrowed and her breathing heavy. She finds Dylan standing not too far away, a blank look on his face.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she shouts at him, stepping forward to shove him roughly in the chest. "You can't just throw a Terrigen crystal at somebody like that. Where did you even get one? They were supposed to have been gathered up a long time ago and put in SHIELD's care."

"I have my resources."

"Well thanks to your 'resources', my brother's going through the Transition. Which is something he didn't want to do, by the way. At least not now. You weren't thinking, were you? Obviously not," she says, not waiting for a response from him. "Transitioning is hard enough for someone who chooses to go through it, having every single cell in their body changed all at once, but for someone who has it just thrown at them, like my parents did, and now my brother, it's definitely no walk in the park. You're an idiot, Dylan."

"He deserves to suffer," Dylan sneers.

"And you deserve to be punched in the face. And I have a fist that's more than ready to hit you. So back off before I lose it and take all my frustrations out on you." She glares at the boy once more before turning back to face the rock-hard cocoon encasing her brother.

"I've already called the infirmary," Lacey speaks up, stepping up next to her friend. "They should be on their way. And I called the Inhumans Sanctuary as well, so that they know another potential Inhuman is going to be released at some point."

"Unless he doesn't make it through," Ava says blatantly, her eyes never leaving the cocoon.

Lacey frowns. "Ava, you can't think like that."

"I'm sorry, I can't help it. I'm really worried right now."

"Whoa, what happened in here? Everybody's talking about some kind of fight and-what's that?"

Ava's eyes never leave the cocoon, but she recognizes the voice of Tyler as he approaches them.

"That's Adian," Ava tells her friend.

Tyler's breath catches and his eyes go wide at the cocoon surrounding his roommate and friend. "Adian's actually in there? Who the hell let that happen?"

"Dylan did it," Lacey informs him bitterly. "He and Adian were getting into it, again, and then Dylan threw a damn Terrigen crystal at him."

Tyler nods and then looks over at Ava. "And how are you doing with all of this?"

Ava sighs. "I really don't know. I'm just...I'm scared for my brother."

"Come here, my little flower." He opens his arms to her, pulling her into a comforting embrace and wrapping his arms securely around her. Ava closes her eyes and buries her face in Tyler's shirt, hugging him tightly but continuing to fight back the tears she knows are threatening to spill over.

* * *

"Ava!"

Looking up from the tiled floor beneath her feet, Ava nearly bursts into tears when she sees her parents quickly approaching her through the hospital waiting room at the Academy. Looks of worry and concern cover both of their faces as they rush inside.

"Mom! Dad!" She shoots up from her chair and meets them in a tight hug, burying her face in between them as she finally lets the tears fall, being back in her parents' arms making her feel just as vulnerable as she did when she was a little girl.

"Shh, it's okay, sweetie," Skye says in a soft voice, running a hand over her daughter's hair. "Everything's going to be okay, mama's here."

Ava pulls back and looks up at her parents with a tear stained face. "It was so scary, mom," she says. "Dylan just threw the crystal at Adian without much of a warning and then the rock stuff started to cover him and then I couldn't see him anymore and it was like that for so long and I was so scared. I mean, I know we have the Inhuman gene because of you two, but I'm really scared that he won't survive this. I can't lose him, mom, he's my best friend."

"Has he broken out of the cocoon yet?" Skye asks.

Ava shakes her head. "No. The doctors are monitoring him, Auntie Jemma's in charge of everything, but she hasn't told me anything yet. I'm really scared, mommy," she whispers.

Skye holds Ava closer to her again, dropping a kiss to the top of her head and running a hand soothingly up and down her back. "I know you are, baby girl. None of this was supposed to happen to either of you so early, especially not without your consent."

"What's gonna happen, mom? What's gonna happen to Adian?"

"Hopefully everything will work out," Grant says to his daughter. "Your brother's strong, Ava, always has been. He won't go down without a fight."

Ava nods. "I know. But I'm still really worried about him. I can't help it."

"That's perfectly understandable, baby."

"I just hope Dylan gets what he deserves," Ava says.

"We're going to meet with your Papa and Nana later to talk about that, but I'm sure he'll be properly reprimanded for what he did to your brother."

"I just want him out of the Academy. That low life scum bag isn't worthy of-"

"Sorry to interrupt. Skye, Grant, can I talk to you both for a quick moment?"

The small family looks up to see Jemma standing in the doorway to the nearby hospital room, a concerned look written all over her face.

"What is it?" Ava asks quickly, taking a step forward.

"Umm..." Jemma looks back and forth between Grant and Skye.

"You might as well just say it," Skye tells the Brit. "You know she's not going to go anywhere and we'd just end up telling her anyway."

Jemma nods. "Alright. Well, so far there's been no activity. Considering how thick the Cocoon is, we're unable to get any type of diodes on his body, so we're unable to monitor his vitals."

"So you have nothing," Ava states. "You made it seem like you had something, but you don't. Why don't you have anything? You're a damn doctor, Jemma. You have multiple PhD's and you're one of SHIELD's top scientists! So why the hell can't you figure out what's going on with my brother?!"

"I'm going to let your language and tone fly just this once because I know you're upset about your brother," Jemma says calmly, though her eyes are narrowed. "I promise you that we're doing everything we possibly can to help your brother. Since the crystal made it so his body became encased, we're very hopeful that he will make it out of this."

"But he'll be different," Ava states the obvious. "He won't be Adian anymore."

"Of course he will, Ava," Skye assures her daughter. "Your dad and I are Inhumans but we're still the same as we ever were."

"But I never knew you two back then," Ava tells her mom. "You guys got your powers way before Adian and I were born. The only way we know you is with your powers. But Adian...Adian and I grew up together; I know everything about him, even all the really annoying stuff. He's going to be so different and I honestly don't know if I can handle that."

"Sweetheart, I know you're scared, and it's perfectly understandable, but he is still going to be your brother. No matter what happens when he comes out of that cocoon." Skye looks up at her friend with furrowed brows. "Actually, do you know why it's taking so long for Adian to emerge? I was only cocooned for a matter of seconds and Grant was cocooned for a couple of hours. Adian's been like this for a lot longer than we've seen with any Inhuman before."

Jemma sighs. "Unfortunately, I do not have an answer for that. As much as I would like to have one. Hopefully in time we can ascertain as to why he's remained in his cocoon for so long, but until then we'll just have to wait-"

"Doctor Simmons! You better get in here!"

Jemma turns around quickly and makes her way back into the hospital room, Grant, Skye, and Ava not far behind her, eager to know what's happening.

"What is it?" Jemma asks instantaneously, going right back into doctor mode.

"The shell is starting to crack."

"Adian," Ava breathes out, taking a small step toward her brother.

Grant places a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Ava, no. Don't move any closer, sweetheart. You don't know what's going to happen when he comes out of there. Your mom brought down an entire building, and I set everything around me on fire. Depending on what your brother can do, there's no telling what will happen when he emerges."

Ava sighs and then steps back, her eyes focusing on the slowly rupturing cocoon, waiting with bated breath for just about anything as a sign that her brother is okay.

* * *

Sitting up quickly in her seat, Ava moves to the edge as she watches her brother begin to stir in his hospital bed. He'd been given some sedatives to let him sleep while his body adjusted to the Inhuman genes being awakened inside of him. Ava hasn't left his side since, waiting eagerly for him to wake up. "Adian? Are you awake? Come on, Adian, just open your eyes. Please. Just open your eyes."

The brunette teen stirs in his bed again, his eyebrows furrowing together as he slowly begins turning from side to side.

Ava's attention is drawn to the rest of the room, seeing different small items on shelves around them beginning to shake and then slowly rise just a few inches from their places.

"Mom! Dad!" she shouts, leaning out of the doorway of the room and into the hallway, her eyes immediately finding her parents and her aunt. "Guys, get in here. It's Adian. I think he's waking up."

"Oh, this is very good," Jemma says as she enters the room and rushes to Adian's bedside, immediately checking his vitals on the few machines surrounding the head of his bed. "He seems to be doing fairly well with the new changes to his system," she tells the family, glancing at them over her shoulder.

"Wake up, Adian," Ava mutters under her breath, worrying her lower lip between her teeth, a habit she picked up from her mother.

Adian continues to stir in his bed, the items around him hovering in their spots.

"Mom? Dad?" he murmurs as his eyes slowly flutter open, blinking a few times as he takes in his surroundings. The items that had previously been fluttering land back on the surfaces beneath them.

"Yeah, baby, it's us," Skye says, stepping forward with her husband, reaching out to run a hand across her son's forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay. I think. What happened?"

"Dylan happened," Ava tells her brother. "He threw a Terrigen crystal at you and it...it changed you."

"It did?"

She nods. "Yeah. I think it has something to do with levitation, maybe, because things have started floating around you."

"We'll be able to figure out exactly what he can do as his abilities continue to evolve," Jemma tells the group. "It might take some time, but we'll be able to figure it out."

"So then what's gonna happen to me now?" Adian asks his aunt. "Am I still going to be able to continue at the Academy?"

"You are," she assures him. "In a way."

Adian's brows furrow. "What does that mean?"

Grant takes a step toward his son. "It means that you won't be able to attend Operations as you have been for the past few months. You'll still continue that training to become an agent with SHIELD, but it'll be different because you'll also be training with your new abilities so that you have a handle on them for when the time comes for you to be out in the field."

"How long will it take?" Adian asks. "Will I still be able to graduate in three years?"

"If you work hard and adapt quickly to your new abilities, then yes, you should be able to graduate with your sister and your friends," Skye tells him. "I know this must be scary, baby, but you're going to get through it, okay? Your dad and I will help you with whatever you need throughout this whole process. We remember what it was like going through the Transition, as does every other Inhuman we've helped at the Sanctuary."

"But you were both adults when it happened to you," Adian reminds her.

"Doesn't mean we weren't scared. I brought down a building and nearly killed your Uncle Trip when I Transitioned. Your father almost burned down our entire apartment complex."

"Hey, I apologized for that," Grant speaks up. "And at least I didn't almost bring down an entire hospital."

"I was giving birth to your children," she retorts. "I'd like to see you try and keep your abilities at bay while pushing two humans out of your body one right after the other." She raises an eyebrow in his direction, challenging him.

Grant simply raises his hands in surrender, a small smile on his face. He lowers his hands and looks at his son. "Adian, we know this must be really tough for you right now, that you didn't want this to happen, but the fact of the matter is, is that it has happened and now you have to learn to adapt to new ways of living your life."

"You won't be alone, though," Ava tells him. "I'm going to be right here with you."

Adian's brows furrow. "You're going to go through Terrigenisis too?"

Ava snorts. "Hell no. I love you, bro, but not enough to change every single cell in my body just so you won't have to go through this completely alone." She reaches out and places a hand over his, her face softening. "But you won't be completely alone, okay? Even if we won't both be at the Academy anymore, I'm still here for you. We're twins, there isn't a force on this earth that could tear us apart."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
> 
> ONE. MORE. CHAPTER. The Epilogue.
> 
> Until next time,  
> Jellybean96 out!


	14. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey babes! Back again with the FINAL CHAPTER of this little story here. Thanks so much to everyone who's read and reviewed. Your support has been awesome and I've loved getting to hear what you've all thought of this world my friend and I created. We love these kids and I'm glad you all do too. :)
> 
> Enjoy!

_***3 1/2 years later*** _

Staring at the background photo on her laptop, Ava lets her mind wander to everything that's happened to her and those around her over the past few years.

She smiles at the particular memory invoked from the photo. It's of her, Adian, Lacey, and Tyler, from the first time they went to visit Adian at the Inhuman Sanctuary, not long after he moved there to start working on getting a hold of his abilities.

It had been tough on both the twins, to not have each other around constantly for training, but they managed to get through it all. With Ava being able to visit her brother at the Sanctuary, it definitely made things easier for the two of them.

"Today's the day. The day we've been waiting for since we first got here. We're finally graduating. We finally get to become real agents. This day couldn't have come fast enough."

Ava smiles from her place sitting at her nearly empty desk. "I can already feel that today's going to be a really good day," she tells her friend, not looking away from the photo and the happy smiles staring back at her.

"You really think so?" Lacey asks.

Ava nods. "Absolutely." She turns in her chair. "I mean, I can't think of much else aside from the fact that we're finally graduating, but I just have a really good feeling about the day in general."

"Well I've learned to trust your 'feelings' over the last four years," Lacey says, "so I'm going to believe you."

Ava laughs quietly. "Good plan. And why do you always have to put air quotes around it whenever you say feelings?"

Lacey shrugs. "I don't know. It fits, though. Nobody else does what you do, so I'm choosing to put air quotes around it."

"It's not like it's a superpower or anything," Ava says. "I've just always had these gut instincts about stuff that I've learned to trust over the years, even if other people tell me I've crazy."

"Like the simulation mission with the Operations cadets our second year?"

Ava groans. "Do not even remind me about that right now, Lace. I got so much crap afterward, everybody thought I cheated somehow."

"Well the important thing is that you didn't."

"Yeah." She takes a deep breath and sits up a little straighter in her seat. "Do you want to head down together?" she asks her best friend.

Lacey nods. "Yeah, sure."

"Great. I think I'm just about ready to go." She turns back to her laptop, finishes typing a few lines of code, and then closes out of the program and locks her computer, shutting the lid of it.

Standing from her chair, she looks over at her roommate and takes a deep breath in, letting a smile crawl across her lips. "Alright, let's do this."

.

.

.

Standing outside in the warm spring air, Ava watches all the people gathering together in the open stadium, cadets and civilians alike. Many of the visitors are talking amongst themselves as they wait for the ceremony to start, while many of the cadets are sitting anxiously in their seats as they also wait.

"There's the beautiful almost-graduate."

Smiling wide, Ava spins around quickly to see Brian standing a few feet away from her, dressed in a dark suit with a smile on his face. She immediately runs toward him, jumping up into his arms and hugging him tightly.

Brian hugs her back, burying his face in her hair and breathing in deeply.

"I thought you weren't going to be able to make it back," Ava says when they pull out of the hug. "You were supposed to be gone for another week."

He nods. "I know. But the mission got finished earlier than we expected. Figured I'd come here and surprise you."

"Well this is definitely the best surprise I've ever received," she tells him. "I really missed you while you were gone."

"I missed you too. I spent every day out on that mission thinking about you and how much I can't live without you."

Ava smiles up at him, her arms wrapped up around his neck. "You certainly know how to sweet talk a girl."

"Well that's where you're wrong, my little flower," Tyler announces his presence as he approaches the couple, a big smile on his face. "For we both know that I am the true master when it comes to wooing the ladies. I'm just waiting for the day when you realize this bozo isn't your true love and you leave him and come running into my arms and allow me to sweep you off your feet. Both literally and figuratively."

Ava rolls her eyes. "Yeah, in your dreams, Ty."

Tyler winks playfully at her. "Always, sweetheart."

"I could hear Ava's eyes rolling as I approached," Adian speaks up as he nears the small group. "Was Tyler hitting on her again?"

"Why do you always assume it was something I did?" Tyler asks his friend.

"Tyler, how many times over the last four years has Ava rolled her eyes at someone?"

"Way too many to count."

"And how many of those times was it because of someone other than you when you were hitting on her?"

"Not very many."

Adian nods. "Exactly."

"Okay, I see your point there."

Adian chuckles. "Good, I'm glad that you do."

"Doesn't mean I'm going to stop hitting on her every chance I get, though." He grins.

Ava laughs quietly. "You wouldn't be the Tyler we all know and tolerate if you didn't hit on me at least once an hour," she jokes. "And it's a good thing Brian's not a jealous, insecure guy or we'd be having some real problems."

"So is this where the pre-party is?" Lacey asks as she joins her group of friends. "Brian!" she exclaims when she sees her best friends' boyfriend, quickly pulling him down into a hug. "I didn't know you'd be back for this. Ava said you weren't supposed to get back until next week." She lets him out of the hug and takes a few steps back.

"I wanted to surprise her," Brian explains, wrapping an arm around Ava's waist and holding her close. Ava gladly leans into her boyfriend's hold, smiling as she rests her head on his chest. "Our mission got done earlier than expected."

Lacey nods in understanding. "Ah. Well we're glad you could be here."

Brian smiles at the blonde. "Thanks. I am too."

"Lacey," Adian speaks up, getting the girls' attention, "hi. Uh, did you do something different with you hair?"

Lacey gives him a small smile and touches the ends of her hair. "Sort of."

"Well it looks really good."

She tucks a few loose strands of hair behind her ears. "Thanks." She clears her throat and looks at the rest of the group. "I'm uh, I'm gonna go and find my seat. I think the ceremony's supposed to start soon."

"I'll come with you," Adian says with a small smile, quickly falling into step beside Lacey and engaging in quiet conversation with her as they walk.

Tyler rolls his eyes and sighs. "I swear, Adian really needs to accept my offer of teaching him how to flirt with a girl he actually likes. It makes my heart ache watching him get all flustered around Lacey."

"I think it's cute how nervous he gets," Ava says with a small tilt of her head as she watches them walk away. "And I'm definitely rooting for them to actually get together. My best friend would become my sister and I can't think of anything better than that."

"I can think of plenty of things better than that, but I know you don't want to hear them, so I'll go find my seat instead."

Ava smiles. "It only took three years, but he's finally learning," she teases.

"You're hilarious, Ava," Tyler says as he slowly backs away.

"Of course I am."

"I'm always going to love you, my little flower," he tells her as he turns around.

"And I'll always reject you, Ty," she calls after his retreating form, a quiet laugh escaping past her lips.

"Hey, Ava, can I talk to you for a minute?" Brian speaks up, catching his girlfriend's attention.

Ava looks up at him. "Yeah, sure, what's up?"

"Let's talk over here," he says, grabbing her hand and pulling her over into a small alcove just off to the side.

"So what's so important you had to drag me away from the zero people near us?" Ava asks her boyfriend once they're stopped and facing each other.

"Well, I wanted a little privacy so I could ask you something."

"What is it?"

He takes a deep breath and shifts on his feet. "Um, well, we've been together for about two and a half years now, and they've been really, really great. I honestly can't imagine living my life without you in it."

Ava's brows furrow. "Brian, what are you going on about?"

"Listen, I know we're both still fairly young, and we don't have to do anything about it right away if you don't want to, I just...I never want you to be out of my life." He takes another deep breath, dropping down onto one knee and reaching into his pants pocket.

Ava's eyes go wide in realization. "Brian!" she whisper shouts. "What the hell are you-"

"Ava Rose Ward," he cuts her off gently, holding a small black box up in front of her, flipping up the lid to reveal, a simple, yet elegant diamond ring. "Will you marry me?"

A slow grin spreads across her face and she nods her head. "Yes! Of course I will!"

Brian grins as well, rising back up onto both feet to slide the ring onto Ava's waiting left hand then pull her in for a searing kiss, one of his hands circling around her waist as the other cradles the back of her neck.

Pulling away after a long moment, Ava rests her forehead against Brian's, her arms wrapped securely around his neck, a smile still very evident on her face.

"I love you so much," Ava whispers.

Brian smiles. "I love you too, Ava. I can't wait to tell everyone that we're engaged."

"Neither can I." She slowly pulls away from him and slides the engagement ring off her finger, slipping it into the pocket of her pants.

Brian's brows furrow. "What are you doing?"

"I want to tell everyone, believe me I do, but I want to wait until later today. Once we're all together somewhere celebrating becoming agents we'll tell them. It'll be like the icing on the cake. Is that okay with you?"

He smiles and nods. "I'm fine with whatever you want. I'm just thrilled that you said yes."

"Did you ever have any doubt that I would?" she asks him with a small smile.

He shakes his head. "Not for a second."

"Good." She takes a deep breath. "Now, I should go find my seat with the other cadets, while you go find your seat in the audience."

"Your parents agreed to save me a seat," he tells her.

"My parents knew you would be here before I did?"

He smiles sheepishly. "Yeah, I'm sorry."

She sighs with a tiny smile, adjusting the lapels of his jacket. "It's fine. I just love how well you get along with them. It'll make telling them we're getting married so much easier. Though, my dad might freak out a little because I'm pretty sure he still sees me as his innocent little girl."

"He's your dad," Brian says. "He loves you and wants what's best for you. And I think he'll be okay, because I may have asked your parents for permission to marry you."

Ava's eyes go wide. "You what?"

"They said yes," he tells her. "But I probably would have asked you even if they had said no. Because I am hopelessly in love with you and never want to be without you by my side."

"Well I feel the same way about you."

"I'm glad."

Ava rises up on her toes and presses a quick kiss to Brian's lips. "I need to go find my seat, but I love you, and I'll see you later after the ceremony. By the way, we're all getting together for dinner tonight to celebrate graduating. The whole family's gonna be there. And Tyler and Lacey."

"When you say the whole family..."

"I mean all of the Avengers as well. At least, the ones I grew up around."

He nods. "Right, yeah, okay. Just checking."

"We can tell them all tonight, if you want to."

"I do want to," he assures her. "I'm just a little worried about the Avengers being there. The last thing I want is Iron Man giving me the death glare when we tell them all."

Ava rolls her eyes and waves off his concern. "Uncle Tony's practically harmless, he's like a teddy bear. Auntie Tasha is the one you really want to watch out for. She'll come at you and you'd never even see her coming."

Brian frowns. "Gee, thanks Ava. That's exactly what I wanted to hear."

Ava laughs quietly at the look on his face. "I'm sorry. I promise you everything will be fine. I really do have to go find my seat." She leans up to give him one final kiss. "I love you." She smiles at him as she turns around and makes her way over to the seating for the cadets in the stadium.

Her eyes search the crowd as she nears the back of the area, immediately finding her brother sitting in the last row of chairs, chatting with the cadet sitting next to him.

She makes her way over to him, politely pushing through a few cadets and then falling down into her seat next to her brother.

"Hey, what took you so long?" Adian asks his sister once she joins him, after finishing his previous conversation.

Ava fights the wide grin that threatens to break through again at the thought of her  _fiance_. There's a part of her that just wants to tell him now and not wait; he's her brother, her best friend, they tell each other everything. For the most part. "Oh, uh, I was just talking to Brian about our plans for tonight."

Adian nods. "Ah. So is he coming to dinner with all of us then? Or are you two gonna do something just the two of you?"

"He's coming to dinner. But he may have freaked a little when I told him the whole family is gonna be there."

Adian nods again and chuckles quietly. "Yeah, that makes sense. But hasn't he met some of them already?"

Ava shrugs. "Yeah. But that was for academic purposes. This is off the clock, very intimate and personal. That would freak anyone out."

"Yeah, I guess so. Are you guys doing anything after dinner? Tyler, Lacey, and I are gonna hang out afterward, I think. You can come with us if you want."

Ava smiles knowingly. "You're hanging out with Lacey, huh?"

"And Tyler."

Ava nods. "Uh-huh. And are you the one who invited Tyler?"

Adian shrugs. "Maybe."

Ava sighs and shakes her head at her brother. "Adian, you're never going to be able to spend time with Lacey alone and tell her how you feel if you keep inviting other people to hang out with you guys. Keep it up and she'll lose interest."

"That's the last thing I'm worried about, Ava," he tells his sister.

"Sure it is, whatever helps you sleep at night."

"I sleep just fine, thank you."

"Probably dreaming about asking Lacey out," she mumbles under her breath.

"I heard that."

"Good. You were meant to. Now hush, they're almost at Lacey's name."

Adian and Ava listen attentively, their eyes fixed on the stage as their Nana May, being the Deputy Director, reads off the names of the graduates.

"Lacey Donaldson."

The two twins clap their hands as loud as they can in excitement for their friend.

Ava casts a sideways glance at her brother, catching sight of the beaming smile on his face as he watches Lacey walk onto the stage and collect her certificate.

"Yeah, you obviously have no interest in her."

.

.

.

"Tyler Marcus Parks."

Adian and Ava clap their hands with wide smiles on their faces as they watch their friend saunter up to the front of the stage, accepting his certificate from Phil.

Ava wants to shout out something at Tyler, knowing he'd react well and shout something back. But this isn't the right place for that.

.

.

.

"Adian Leo Ward."

Taking a deep breath, Adian moves down the rest of the aisle and up the stairs onto the stage, accepting his certificate from Phil, shaking his hand. Phil pulls his pseudo-grandson into a quick hug before giving him a quick nod.

Adian smiles back at Phil and then makes his way down the stairs and back toward his seat, quickly making eye contact with his parents in the crowd and flashing them a smile.

"Ava Rose Ward."

Ava smiles brightly as she moves down the aisle, up the steps, and to the center of the stage, meeting Phil in a handshake as she accepts her certificate. She gives him a slightly longer hug than Adian before making her way back down to her seat by her brother.

A few more names are called before everyone is back in their respective seats and Phil is back at the podium smiling at them all.

"Congratulations, Cadets. I'm sorry, I mean to say Agents," he says with a small smile. "You've all come a long way since your first day here, and I've very proud to be able to witness the next generation of agents who have decided to dedicate the rest of their lives to helping keep this planet safe from anyone or anything who tries to cause it harm."

Adian leans over to his sister with a small smile on his face, his eyes never leaving the stage where his grandfather continues to speak. "So, you ready to start saving the world, baby sister?"

Ava grins, clutching tightly to the engagement ring inside her pocket. "Oh, I am so ready, big brother."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
> 
> It's over, you guys, oh man. Thank you again, to everyone who's read and reviewed this story. It's been fun.
> 
> But don't worry, I am currently working on a sequel for this story. No posting date in mind yet, because I still have to really nail down the plot and finish writing it. But keep an eye out for that anyways. :)
> 
> Until next time,  
> Jellybean96 out!

**Author's Note:**

> So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
> 
> I'm really looking forward to this one, so I hope you guys are too.
> 
> Until next time,  
> Jellybean96 out!


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